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AND THEIR REFUTATION. 71
aware of, that heresy naturally tends to infidelity. When once
we lose hold of the anchor of Faith, and set up our own fallible
judgments in opposition to the authority of the Church, we are
led on from one false consequence to another, till in the end we
are inclined to reject Revelation altogether. Such is the case,
especially in Germany at the present day, where Rationalism has
usurped the place of Religion, and infidelity is promulgated from
the Theological Chair. It is true that in Catholic countries infi
delity has also not alone appeared, but subverted both the throne
and altar, and shaken society to its very foundations ; but there
it is the daughter of indifferentism. Lax morality produces un
belief, and those whose lives are totally opposed to the austere
rule of the Gospel, are naturally anxious to persuade themselves
that Religion is altogether a human invention. This madness,
however, passes away after a time. Religion is too deeply
rooted in the hearts of a truly Catholic people to be destroyed
deal of its
by it. The storm strips the goodly tree of a great
fruit and foliage, the rotten branches are snapped off, and the
dead and withered leaves are borne away, but the vital principle
of the trunk remains untouched, and in due season produces again
fruit a hundred-fold.
2. That free spirit of inquiry, the boast of Protestantism,
which, rejecting all authority, professes to be guided by reason
alone, produced Rationalism. Luther and Calvin rejected several
of the most important Articles of the Christian Faith. Why
should not their followers do the same ? They appealed to rea
son so did their disciples ; one mystery after another was swept
away, till Revelation, we may say, totally disappeared, and
nothing but the name of Religion remained. The philosopher
Kant laid down a system, by which True and Ecclesiastical
Religion were distinguished. True Religion is the Religion of
Reason ; Ecclesiastical, the Religion of Revelation, and this is
only a vehicle for conveying the truths of natural Religion. By
this rule, then, the Scriptures were interpreted. Nothing but
what reason could measure was admitted ; every mystery became
a Myth : miracles were all the effects of natural causes, working
on an unenlightened and wonder-loving people. Hetzel, Eich-
horn, the Rosenmullers, promulgated these blasphemies. Strauss,
in his
"
Life of Christ," upsets all Revelation ; and Becker