believe in God, is not supernatural, but purely natural. He is an
infidel whether he is found in darkest Africa or in the midst of this
Christian commonwealth, and in this latter place there are more
infidels than most people imagine. A decadent Protestantism rejects the
necessity of baptism, thereby ceasing to be Christian, and in its trail
infidelity thrives and spreads, disguised, 'tis true, but nevertheless
genuine infidelity. It is baptism that makes faith possible, for faith
is a gift of God.

An apostate is one who, having once believed, ceases to believe. All
heretics and infidels are not apostates, although they may be in
themselves or in their ancestors. One may apostatize to heresy by
rejecting the Church, or to infidelity by rejecting all revelation; a
Protestant may thus become an apostate from faith as well as a
Catholic. This going back on the Almighty--for that is what apostasy
is,--is, of all misfortunes the worst that can befall man. There may be
excuses, mitigating circumstances, for our greatest sins, but here it
is useless to seek for any. God gives faith. It is lost only through
our own fault. God abandons 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