CHAPTER XXII

THE ENEMIES OF RELIGIOUS PROPAGATE DISTINCT FALSEHOODS CONCERNING THEM, AFFIRMING, FOR INSTANCE, THAT RELIGIOUS ARE FALSE APOSTLES, FALSE PROPHETS, AND FALSE CHRISTS

WE have still to consider the falsehoods propagated against religious by their enemies.

             The opponents of religious are not content with calumniating their victims; they strive, likewise, to cast upon them suspicion of being guilty of heinous crimes. They assert, that religious are worthy of all detestation; and that they are unfit society for other men. They fill up the measure of their detraction, by declaring religious to be responsible for all the evils which have ever come upon the Church, or which ever shall assail her; and they declare that religious are, likewise, accountable for every trouble, under which the Church at present labours. They are, further, accused of being the false apostles who disturbed the primitive Church, and also of being the thieves, robbers, and "creepers into houses" against which the Church has, unto all time been warned; and they are also said to be those heralds of Antichrist, who, in the latter days of the Church, are to bring danger upon her.

             We will, in due order, refute these calumnies.

             Religious are accused of being false apostles. In order to show how untruly this epithet is applied to religious, we must first examine, what is meant by false apostles. In the Holy Scripture we find other expressions of the same kind, such as, false prophets, and false Christs. The following words of St. Peter (2 Ep. ii. 1): "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be among you lying teachers," apply to all these disseminators of falsehood. For the office of a preacher and an apostle, is to be a mediator between the Lord and His people, by preaching the Word of God. Thus St. Paul says (2 Cor. v. 20): "For Christ, therefore, we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us." Now, a man may be a false apostle, or a false prophet, for one of two reasons. Firstly, he may not be sent by God: "I did not send prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied" (Jer. xxiii. 21). Secondly, a false apostle, or prophet, will proclaim, not the Word of God, but his own inventions: "Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you, and deceive you; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord" (Jer. xxiii. 16). Both these two accusations are brought against false prophets and apostles in the following words of Ezechiel (xiii. 6): "They see vain things, and they foretell lies, saying: 'The Lord saith'; whereas the Lord hath not sent them." Alluding to the pertinacity of such false teachers, the Prophet adds: "They have persisted to confirm what they have said." When Jeremias was condemned as a false prophet, he hastened to exculpate himself from both these charges. He said: "In truth the Lord sent me to you." This refers to the first accusation. He adds: "to speak all these words in your hearing." This is his defence against the second charge (Jer. xxvi. 15).

             The false apostles of the New Testament were recognisable, likewise, by these two characteristics, viz., first, that they were not sent by God, and, secondly, that they propagated false doctrine. Now preachers, bearing a commission from the bishops of the Church, are sent by God. St. Augustine in his Epistle to Orosius interprets the word Apostle as signifying sent. "There are," he says, "four kinds of Apostles. Those sent by God. Those sent by God by means of man. Those sent by man alone. Those who are sent by their own inclination. Moses was sent by God. Jesus Navel by God and man. They, who, in our times, are raised by public favour to the priesthood, are sent by man alone. False prophets are sent by none; they go forth at their own desire." The Saint adds: "He should be considered as sent by God, who is not chosen out, by human praise or flattery, but who is recommended by the excellence of his life, and by the wishes of apostolic priests." Those who preached heretical doctrine, were, likewise, called false apostles. This we know by the testimony both of St. Paul and of the Gloss, on his words. The Apostle writes (Gal. i. 16): "Only there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ." The Gloss thus comments on the words: "These were the false apostles who said that the Gospel was opposed to the law of Moses."

             Again, on the words, "There shall arise false Christs and false prophets" (Mark xiii. 22), the Gloss says: "This verse is to be understood as referring to the heretics who attacked the Church, declaring that they were Christs. The first of these impostors was Simon Magus; the last will be Antichrist." He who preaches without any commission to do so, or teaches false doctrine, does so, inspired by some bad motive, either of covetousness, or pride, or vain glory. Such men are deprived of the grace of God; and, consequently, commit sins, more or less heinous. But, everyone who preaches for the sake of gain, or popularity, is not, necessarily, a false apostle or false prophet; otherwise, there would be no distinction between a hireling and a false apostle. They who preach for the sake of anything, save of the glory of God and the good of souls, are hirelings; let their preaching be true or false, authorised or unauthorised. But, such men cannot be called false prophets, unless they either bear no commission, or teach false doctrine. In the same way, every sinner who administers the sacraments, or preaches the Word of God, is not, necessarily, a false apostle or a false prophet. For, true prelates are true apostles; although, at times, they may be sinful.

             Thus, the detractors of religious, who call them false prophets or false apostles, are, by their own words, convicted of folly, or malice. For, the fact that religious may be guilty of sins, more or less heinous, such as seeking their own glorification, taking vengeance on their enemies, and the like, cannot make them false prophets, or false apostles, provided that they bear a commission to preach, and that they teach true doctrine. The enemies of religious do not presume to question the orthodoxy of their preaching. To the arguments against the right of religious to preach, we have already fully replied. It remains, then, for us to say, that those who accuse religious of being false apostles or false prophets, are themselves guilty of falsehood. They may, with the same deceitfulness, accuse others of the same crime. The fact that false apostles have done many things which other sinners, and even just men, have done, is no reason for calling those other men false apostles also. We have, however, already shown the fallacy of such an argument.