ever even have heard of the Gospel? St. Peter (whom the Pope mentions more frequently, and with greater reverence than he does Jesus Christ himself) confidently opposed the Sacred Council; declaring that it was better to obey God than Man. And St. Paul, † when he had once thoroughly embraced the Gospel, having received it neither from man nor by man, but solely through the will of God, conferred not with flesh and blood, nor related it to his Kinsfolk and Brethren, but straightway went into Arabia, there to preach the Divine Mysteries which he had been taught of God himself. We are far from treating with contempt and disrespect the General Councils, or the Assemblies and Deliberations of Bishops and other learned Divines; nor indeed have any of our acts been unsanctioned by the Authority of *Acts v. 29. + Galatians i. 12. 16, 17. This entire Paragraph is ably defended by the learned Prelate in his admirable Defence, where a full explanation is given of the source and origin of the authority of Bishops in the Reformed Church; and an enumeration of the various Parliaments under whose sanction the Ecclesiastical Establishments of this Country were founded. The Defence of the Apologie, pp. 595-8. Bishops and Councils. The subject was debated in open Parliament, in full Convocation, and underwent a long and painful investigation. But it is not difficult to conjecture what treatment we may hope and expect from that Council * which Pope Pius IV. now pretends to convene, wherein men are condemned unheard, uncalled, unseen. † Nazienzen in his time, when he saw men at these assemblies so obstinate and blinded by * In the olde Popishe Latine Translation of the Bible, there be sundrie erroures, so open, and so grosse, that a very Babe may espie them as it maie more plainely appeare by BUDEUS, ERASMUS, VALLA, FABER, LINDANUS, and others. Yet notwithstandinge their late * Councel, saithe precisely thus, Ne quis veterem Vulgatam Editionem, rejicere quovis prætextu audeat, vel præsumat: Let no man dare or presume in any manner to reject the old Vulgate translation of the Bible; As if these Councelles were pourposely summoned to mainteine er rours. If they wil so deceive us in sensible maters, how maie wee then truste them in maters of Faithe? The Defence of the Apologie, p. 598. The Council of Trent. + In the fourth year of Pius IV. A. D. 1563, in the sixth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, an end was put to the Council of Trent, to which we have so often alluded in this Apology. their passions as to contend for superiority, not Truth; with much force and justice observed, that he never knew any of these Councils terminate successfully.* What would he say were he now alive, and could see the conflict in which these men are engaged? For although at that period Factions and Parties certainly existed ; still Causes were heard, and all united their influence to eradicate any flagrant Errors. But the modern Papists will neither allow their cause to be freely discussed, nor suffer the slightest change in even one of the many erroneous opinions which they entertain: for they are frequently wont with the most unblushing effrontery to boast that their Church cannot err; that the slightest error cannot be discovered in it; that no concessions whatever are to be made to us; or that if any, such must be granted entirely at the discretion of the Bishops and Abbots: Equidem ut vere, quod res est, scribam, prorsus decrevi fugere omnem conventum Episcoporum; nullius enim Concilii bonum exitum unquam vidi; Concilia enim non minuunt mala, sed augent potius: To confess the Truth I am fully resolved never again to attend any assemblage of Bishops, for I never yet saw one of them terminate successfully; for Councils far from diminishing, tend rather to increase Evils. Gregorius Nazianzen, ad Procopium. they being the sole moderators of all things; the only apparent Church of God. Aristotle declares that a Civil Society or Government cannot be entirely composed of Bastards: they themselves then may decide whether they are qualified to constitute the Church of God: for their Abbots are certainly not Legitimate, nor their Bishops, Genuine. But let them be the Church; let them be heard in Councils; let them alone possess the right of giving their votes: still however in former times, when the Church of God in comparison with theirs enjoyed the best possible constitution, we are given to understand by St. Cyprian, that both Priests and Deacons, and indeed some portion of the Laity, were summoned to the trial of Ecclesiastical Causes. And what if these Abbots and Bishops are utterly destitute of Knowledge?* What if they are ignorant of the nature of Religion, and know not "Many of theire Priestes can neither speake Latine, nor Reade Englishe, nor understande the Articles of their Faithe, nor any Portion of the Scriptures." The Defence of the Apologie, p. 601, what to believe of God? What if the Law hath perished from the Priests, and Counsel from the Elders? What if, as saith the Prophet Micah; it shall be night unto them, that they shall not have a vision, and dark unto them, that they shall not divine? What if, as saith Isaiah?† the Watchmen of the City are all blind, all ignorant? What if the salt have lost its savour? and as Christ saith, become good for nothing, but to be cast upon the dung-hill, and trodden under foot of men? But they refer every thing to the Pope, who cannot err. In the first place, it argues gross folly and ignorance to transmit the Holy Ghost from the sacred Council to Rome by a Courier,§ in order * Micah iii. 6. Matthew v. 13. + Isaiah lvi. 10. Luke xiv. 35. Mark ix. 50. § It was a common Proverb in the time of the Council of Trent, that the Holy Ghost was sent from Rome to the Council in a Cloak-Bag, which was spoken in derision of the Councils depending too much upon the directions sent them very frequently from thence by Carriers, as Father Paul acquaints us in his History of that Council; and to this Proverb our author in this place alludes: The same Proverb is mentioned by the Bishop of Quinque Ecclesiæ, in a letter printed at the end of the Council of Trent, in English, Editor's Note to the Translation of 1685. |