The Catholic bulletin., 1920-05-01
ST. AUGUSTINE SHOWS HOW RE
LIGlOUS ERROR REPEATS
ITSELF.

Revolt against authority is an evil
that will always be with us. 1t is
older than mankind, for it has been
the cause of the fall of the angels:
and it will no doubt exist as long as
free agents may rebel against" the
VIII of their Creator, for pride will
not brook the restraint of a superior
will
The revolt of the intellect against
the divine teaching constitutes heresy,
writes an author. Heresy, in spite of
the common error to the contrary, is
not of a comparatively recent origin.
1t is, If not necessary, at least an
unavoidable growth on the tree of
the NicOlaites mentioned in the Apoc-
divine teaching authority, and is, in
fact, constant recurrence from the
apostles down to our own days, from
alypse to the Modernists who were
condemned by Pope Plus X. Heresi-
archs may come and go; their sys-
TENS may thrive and dwindle: their
errors may be clearly exposed and
thoroughly refuted, and yet heresy un-
der some form or other will still be
with us. 1t should not, therefore, be
cause of surprise to hear that as
early as the time of St. Augustine
who died in the year 43O A. D., this
great convert from heresy and great
est of the doctors of the Church could
enumerate eighty-eight heresies from
Simon Magus, the contemporary of
the apostles, to Pelagius, the last in
line of the leaders of unorthodox
thought.
If heresies of all times have fam
lily likeness in this, that they are,
one and all, revolt of the intellect,
they resemble each other likewise in
the selection of their weapons, both
offensive and defensive From St.
Augustine's words we may CLEAN that
the following are some of their favo-
rite arms and tactics.
1. Truth is no consideration, when
there is question of scoring against
their spiritual mother whom they
have abandoned.
:. They will savagely attack the
zeal or imaginary evils of individual
members of the Church, as though the
Church herself were responsible for
these.
). At the same time they seem to
be unaware of the fact that they them
selves are living in glass houses.
4. They will furiously pillage
Scripture of it's most violent invec-
tives1 against all that is vile and de-
testable, and hurl them insolently at
the fair spouse of Christ
5. To manufacture proofs for their
own system, or to attach undue i'm
portance to insignificant events, in or
der to show forth their own righteous.
ness is not always below their sense
of honor.
s. They do, indeed, wrest and twist
the sacred text ito their own destruc-
ton e Pet. 3:16), being either un-
able or unwilling to see the meaning
of the Scriptures in it's context and in
its corporate unity, and, on the other
hand, indulging freely in fanciful in
IOipiCIdIioAo VI ouoCul0 passages.
1t goes without saying that these
remarks do not apply to those who
having received heresy as sorrowful
heirloom, live, deprived of their fam
lily rights in the Church which is the
house, of God, the pillar and ground
Of the truth Il. TIM. 3:15) and yet
are more Christian than sectarian,
and attach themselves more to the
ltruths which heresy has retained when
| it broke away than to the errors which
it tried to graft on the ancient stock.