them that abandon Him. Apostasy is the most
patent case of spiritual suicide, and the apostate carries branded on
his forehead the mark of reprobation. A miracle may save him, but
nothing short of a miracle can do it, and who has a right to expect it?
God is good, but God is also just.

It is not necessary to pose as an apostate before the public. One may
be a renegade at heart without betraying himself, by refusing his inner
assent to a dogma of faith, by wilfully doubting and allowing such
doubts to grow upon him and form convictions.

People sometimes say things that would brand them as apostates if they
meant what they said. This or that one, in the midst of an orgy of sin,
or after long practical irreligion, in order to strangle remorse that
arises at an inopportune moment, may seem to form a judgment of
apostasy. This is treading on exceedingly thin glass. But it is not
always properly defection from faith. Apostasy kills faith as surely as
a knife plunged into the heart kills life.

A schismatic does not directly err in matters of faith, but rejects the
discipline of the Church and refuses to submit to her authority. He
believes all that is taught, but puts himself without the pale of the
Church by his insubordination. Schism is a grievous sin, but does not
necessarily destroy faith.

The source of all this unbelief is, of course, in the proud mind and
sensual heart of man. It takes form exteriorly in an interminable
series of "isms" that have the merit of appealing to the weaknesses of
man. They all mean the same thing in the end, and are only forms of
paganism. Rationalism and Materialism are the most frequently used
terms. One stands on reason alone, the other, on matter, and both have
declared war to the knife on the Supernatural. They tell us that these
are new brooms destined to sweep clean the universe, new lamps intended
to dissipate the clouds of ignorance and superstition and to purify
with their light the atmosphere of the world. But, truth to tell, these
brooms have been stirring up dust from the gutters of passion and sin,
and these lamps have been offending men's nostrils by their smoky
stench ever since man knew himself. And they shall continue to do
service in the same cause as long as human nature remains what it is.
But Christ did not bring His faith on earth to be destroyed by the
lilliputian efforts of man.

CHAPTER XXV.
HOW FAITH MAY BE LOST.

IT is part of our belief that no man