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I. The perfection of the intellect consists in the knowledge of truth, for it is in this form that the image of God is impressed upon it. Knowledge is power and satisfaction; and much more so is that knowledge which regards the highest divine truths. Truth has its opposite, which is forever contending against it for the mastery during the present life; and, in proportion to the dignity and benefits of truth, its opposites, error and falsehood, are injurious and horrible. Even in mundane matters falsehood is an evil and the source of further evils; and still more is this the case in the spiritual sphere, where it contradicts the truth concerning the highest of all objects, God, and the truths that are the root of right living and our future salvation. Error is never a mere matter of speculative opinion. The evil tree must produce evil fruits. Ideas are the basis of action, they live and fructify, they survive all violence, and produce their effects good or bad. The intelligence which rules our lives cannot be misinformed and perverted without producing far-reaching effects. One error will generate others indefinitely; and, although truth is immortal, it is long before it can overtake and extinguish a well established falsehood. Never consider that any falsity is a trivial matter. False belief may indeed at times be involuntary and therefore free from guilt, but it is not the less a product of the father of lies, and the ancestor of a long line of evils. Watch most carefully against its smallest encroachment.
II. Faith is the habit of the intellect which grasps supernatural truth. The Fall has left in the intellect a propension towards falsehood, especially in the sphere of divine things. There is no error, however gross and absurd, that will not attract numerous adherents. Some follow it from apparently an affinity of their minds for error; others, less perverted, are attracted by those decoys which are set about every error, certain fragments of truth, certain (Page 167) plausible pretensions or promises which will never be fulfilled; others are moved by prejudice against the truth because its surroundings are not so perfect as they will be in the future kingdom. Falsehood presents itself in countless forms to suit every taste, and accommodates itself to times and places and fashions. Its principal manifestations are atheism, paganism, or the worship of false gods, deism, which recognizes a God but not His revelation, Judaism, which accepts the anterior revelation but not its accomplishment in the Messias, and heresy, which is the obstinate adhesion of a Christian to an error concerning some points of revealed doctrine. With all these weapons does the spirit of falsehood ever seek to adulterate, or maim, or destroy the one invariable complete system of truth. You must suffer attacks of some sort from the father of lies. Your intellect must be chastened by trial like all your other faculties. Watch and pray against temptation, fight it bravely, and turn it to the strengthening of your faith.
III. The deliberate adhesion to positive or suspected religious error is a very grave sin and fraught with terrible peril. Resisting the known truth is one of the sins against the Holy Ghost, as impeding one of His characteristic operations. It is a poisoning of the sources of action, for it destroys supernatural faith, which is necessary in order to please God; it perverts the intelligence, which is the principle of activity, it uproots the foundation of repentance, and leads to a hardening of the heart and an inability to see the truth and hear the voice of God. It further breaks up the union of mind and thought which supports union of heart and affection, and which makes the followers of Christ to be one as He and the Father are one. The Gospels, especially St. John's, show that such intellectual and spiritual dishonesty must be far from infrequent; it is secret, it involves no stigma from public opinion, and no one may without rash judgment question its claim to the excuse of sincerity. Deceit, may go so far as to deceive self but it cannot deceive God.
