irrational. And when we thus wished to restore to its ancient integrity the Church of God, we neither sought, nor indeed desired any other foundation on which to raise it, than that which we knew had long ago been laid by the Apostles themselves, and which foundation was no other than our Saviour Jesus Christ. When therefore we heard God himself speaking to us in his word, and had the bright examples of the Ancient Primitive Church before our eyes; whilst the summoning of a general Council was a thing not to be depended on; and the proceedings of such a Council, if summoned, still less so; whilst on the one hand (I say) we had no doubt concerning the will of God, and on the other deemed it a heinous sacrilege to be over anxious. and solicitous concerning the judgment of men; we could not any longer "confer with flesh and blood," but did that, which is not merely justifiable in itself, but can also plead the frequent examples of men of unfeigned Religion, and of Bishops who were truly Catholic: that is to say, we have taken measures for the good of our own individual Churches by summoning a Provincial Synod; a course we know to have

been generally pursued by the Ancient Fathers by way of experiment, before they appealed to an aggregate Council of all Christian Churches.

Canons made in these Particular Councils are still extant: as those made at Carthage under Cyprian, at Ancyra, at Neocæsarea, and at Gangra in Paphlagonia: all which in the opinion of many persons were convened long before the name of the Nicene Council called Ecumenical or General was ever heard of. * And in this manner, without waiting for a general Council, the disputes were formerly carried on in a Provincial Assembly with the Pelagians and Donatists. And thus, when the Emperor Constantius openly favoured the Arian Bishop Auxentius, that truly

From all these circumstances it appears that men were not accustomed in every emergency to apply to the Pope alone, but had recourse to other persons whom they considered able and qualified to assist them in their difficulties. On this account we find Origen designated "Magister Ecclesiarum," Master or Instructor of the Churches; St. Basil, 66 Canon Fidei," The Rule of Faith; Eusebius Samosatensis, "Regula Veritatis," The Standard of Truth; Athanasius, "Orbis Oculus," The Eye of the World; and in cases of doubt these learned Fathers were as frequently applied to as the Pope. See Hieronymus in Apologia adversus Ruffin, and Gregor. Nazianzen ad Heronem et ad Simplicium.

Christian Bishop* Athanasius did not appeal to a General Council (because he saw nothing could be done by it on account of the Emperor's influence, and the power of party-motives) but he appealed to his own clergy and people, or in other words to a Provincial Synod. Thus a Decree was passed in the Council of Nice, that twice every year, and in another at Carthage, that at least once in the same period, a Convocation of Bishops should be held in every province: which, says the Council of Chalcedon, was done with the intent that if errors or abuses appeared in any quarter, they might without the least delay be corrected on the very spot where they had arisen.

Whereupon, when Secundus and Palladius disowned the authority of the Council of Aquileia, because it was not a public and General Council, Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, replied, that the assembling of Synods, and holding Provincial Councils by the Western Bishops ought not to be deemed an innovation, or foreign custom by any one; for that the Western Bishops had

* Some editions read "Ambrosius."

done the same before, and that too not seldom; and that the Greeks had done it very often.

In like manner, the Emperor Charles the Great held a Provincial Council in Germany for the discontinuing the use of images in the Churches, in opposition to the second Council of Nice. Nor is this custom altogether new and unparalleled in our own country; we ourselves having at different times held Provincial Synods,

The credite of the Emperoure Charles Booke, reportinge the Decrees of the Councel of Frankfoorde touchinge the Adoration of Images, I leave wholy to the indifferente discretion of the Reader. It was Printed, not at Geneva, as Mr. Hardinge surmises, but in Parise. The setter out proveth it not to be forged by many good and likely reasons. An anciente Copie of the same is yet (A. D. 1562) stil to be seene in Rome in the Laterane, even in the Pope's owne Librarie. Augustinus Steuchus the maister of the same Librarie, reporteth the same. The Emperor Louis, sonne unto Charles, wrote a Booke yet extant and remaininge in France to like purpose, Freere Eckius also beareth witnesse unto the same Booke of the Emperoure Charles, although untruely and guilefully as his manner is; for he saith that Charles wrote four Bookes in Defence of Images; whereas indeede the Bookes are directely written againste Images.

The Defence of the Apologie, p. 712.

Augustin Steuchus, De donatione Constantini, lib. i. cap. 6.

tEckius de Imaginibus.

where we have made laws for the private government of our own Churches.

But what need is there of multiplying proofs in a matter self-evident? For what else are even those greatest and fullest Councils, to which the Papists attach so much importance, if compared with all the Churches in the world which acknowledge and profess the Christian Faith? What else are even these, but mere private Councils and Provincial Synods of a few Bishops? For although even Italy, France, Spain, England, Germany, Denmark, and Scotland should be thus assembled; yet where would be Asia, Greece, Armenia, Persia, Media, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, and Mauritania? in all which countries there are not only private Christians, but Bishops also? How then can any man in his senses esteem this a General Council? How can they pretend to possess the consent of the whole Christian world, when so many parts of it have not been asked their opinion? For instance, of what description was the last Council of Trent? And, in the name of common sense, how could it be called General, when it was attended by only forty Bishops