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| No Difference in the Spirit of Idolatry and of Heresy. In the Rites of Idolatry, Satan Imitated and Distorted the Divine Institutions of the Older Scriptures. The Christian Scriptures Corrupted by Him in the Perversions of the Various Heretics.
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Chapter XL.—No Difference in the Spirit of Idolatry and of
Heresy. In the Rites of Idolatry, Satan Imitated and Distorted the
Divine Institutions of the Older Scriptures. The Christian Scriptures
Corrupted by Him in the Perversions of the Various Heretics.
The question will arise, By whom is to be
interpreted2266
| 2266
“Interpretur” is here a passive verb. | the sense of the
passages which make for heresies? By the devil, of course, to whom
pertain those wiles which pervert the truth, and who, by the mystic
rites of his idols, vies even with the essential portions2267
of the sacraments of God.2268
| 2268 Sacramentorum
divinorum. The form, however, of this phrase seems to point not
only to the specific sacraments of the gospel, but to the
general mysteries of our religion. | He, too, baptizes some—that is, his
own believers and faithful followers;2269
| 2269 Compare
Tertullian’s treatises, de Bapt. v. and de Corona,
last chapter. | he
promises the putting away2270
of sins by a laver
(of his own); and if my memory still serves me, Mithra there, (in the
kingdom of Satan,) sets his marks on the foreheads of his soldiers;
celebrates also the oblation of bread, and introduces an image of a
resurrection, and
before a sword wreathes a crown.2271
| 2271 “Et sub gladio
redimit coronam” is the text of this obscure sentence,
which seems to allude to a pretended martyrdom. Compare
Tertullian’s tract, de Corona, last chapter. | What also must
we say to (Satan’s) limiting his chief priest2272
| 2272 The Flamen
Dialis. See Tertullian’s tract, ad
Uxorem, i. 7. | to a single marriage? He, too, has his
virgins; he, too, has his proficients in continence.2273
| 2273 [Corruptio optimi
pessima. Compare the surprising parallels of M. Huc between debased
Christianity and the paganism of Thibet, etc. Souvenirs d’un voyage, etc. Hazlitt’s
translation, 1867.] | Suppose now we revolve in our minds the
superstitions of Numa Pompilius, and consider his priestly offices and
badges and privileges, his sacrificial services, too, and the
instruments and vessels of the sacrifices themselves, and the curious
rites of his expiations and vows: is it not clear to us that the devil
imitated the well-known2274
| 2274 Morositatem Illam. [He refers to the minute and vexatious
ordinances complained of by St. Peter (Acts xiv. 10,) which Latin Christianity has
ten-folded, in his name.] | moroseness of the
Jewish law? Since, therefore he has shown such emulation in his great
aim of expressing, in the concerns of his idolatry, those very things
of which consists the administration of Christ’s sacraments, it
follows, of course, that the same being, possessing still the same
genius, both set his heart upon,2275
and succeeded
in, adapting2276
to his profane and
rival creed the very documents of divine things and of the Christian
saints2277
| 2277 i.e., the Scriptures
of the New Testament. | —his
interpretation from their interpretations, his words from their words,
his parables from their parables. For this reason, then, no one ought
to doubt, either that “spiritual wickednesses,” from which
also heresies come, have been introduced by the devil, or that there is
any real difference between heresies and idolatry, seeing that they
appertain both to the same author and the same work that idolatry does.
They either pretend that there is another god in opposition to the
Creator, or, even if they acknowledge that the Creator is the one only
God, they treat of Him as a different being from what He is in truth.
The consequence is, that every lie which they speak of God is in a
certain sense a sort of idolatry.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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