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 interpreted416    “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 portions417    Res. of the sacraments of God.418    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;419    Compare Tertullian’s treatises, de Bapt. v. and de Corona, last chapter. he promises the putting away420    Expositionem. 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.421    “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 priest422    The Flamen Dialis. See Tertullian’s tract, adUxorem, i. 7. to a single marriage? He, too, has his virgins; he, too, has his proficients in continence.423    [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-known424    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,425    Gestiit. and succeeded in, adapting426    Attemperare. to his profane and rival creed the very documents of divine things and of the Christian saints427    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.

CAPUT XL.

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Fieri haec autem eodem diaboli instinctu, qui ipsas quoque res sacramentorum divinorum in idolorum mysteriis aemulatur; exempli gratia, qui quosdam tinguit, expiationem delictorum de lavacro repromittit, signat in frontibus, celebrat et panis oblationem.

Sequetur , a quo intellectus intervertatur eorum quae ad haereses faciant? A diabolo scilicet, cujus sunt partes intervertendi veritatem, qui ipsas quoque res sacramentorum divinorum, idolorum mysteriis aemulatur. Tingit et ipse quosdam, utique credentes et fideles suos; expositionem delictorum de lavacro repromittit; et si adhuc memini , Mithara signat illic in 0055A frontibus milites suos; celebrat et panis oblationem, et imaginem resurrectionis inducit, et sub gladio redimit coronam. Quid? quod et summum Pontificem unius nuptiis statuit, habet et virgines, habet et continentes. Caeterum, si Numae Pompilii superstitiones revolvamus, si sacerdotalia officia, insignia, et privilegia, si sacrificalia ministeria, et instrumenta, et vasa ipsorum sacrificiorum, ac piaculorum et votorum, curiositates consideremus, nonne manifeste diabolus morositatem illam judaicae legis imitatus est? Qui ergo ipsas res, de quibus sacramenta Christi administrantur, tam aemulanter affectavit exprimere in negotiis idololatriae, utique et idem et eodem ingenio gestiit et potuit instrumenta quoque divinarum rerum et sanctorum 0055B christianorum, sensum de sensibus, verba de verbis, parabolas de parabolis profanae et aemulae fidei attentare . Et ideo, neque a diabolo immissa esse spiritalia nequitiae, ex quibus etiam haereses veniunt, dubitare quis debet, neque ab idololatria distare haereses, cum et auctoris et operis ejusdem sint, cujus et idololatria. Deum, aut fingunt alium adversus Creatorem, aut, si unicum Creatorem confitentur, aliter eum disserunt, quam in vero est. Itaque omne mendacium quod de Deo dicunt, quoddammodo genus est idololatriae .