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thought proper, annul the decisions of the Apostles and Councils; nay, invalidate even the Apostolical Canons themselves: that it was not for him to be directed either by the example, the institutions, or the laws of Christ.

These are the doctrines we have been taught by Christ, by the Apostles, by the holy Fathers: these, unaltered, uncorrupted, we teach the people of God; and for this cause indeed it is, that we are this day stigmatized as Heretics by this usurper of religious authority.

O, eternal God! And has Christ, have the Apostles, have so many Fathers, all been involved together in the same error? Were Origen, St. Ambrose, St. Augustin, St. Chrysostom, Gelasius, Theodoret, all Apostates from the Catholic Faith? Was the singular unanimity of so many venerable Bishops and learned men only an Heretical Conspiracy?

Are we to be condemned for maintaining those sentiments which gained them so much approba

*Dist, xxxvi. Lector in Glossa. Dist. lxxxi. Presbyter.

tion? Has that which in them was Catholic, now suddenly, with the veering breath of human caprice, become schismatic? Shall what was formerly true, because it no longer pleases them, be deemed false? Let them give us another Gospel, or at least show some plausible reason why these Pillars of Faith, which for so many ages have attracted the eye of public admiration, for so many ages upheld the Church of God, should now at length be demolished?

We are convinced that the word which Christ revealed, and his Apostles preached, is sufficient for our salvation-sufficient to propagate all truth-sufficient to convict every species of Heresy.

From this alone do we condemn all those ancient Heresies, which our adversaries declare that we have recalled from Hell: Nay, Arians, Eutychians, Marcionites, Ebionites, Valentinians, Carpocratians, Tatians, Novatians-all those, in a word, who have entertained impious ideas of God the Father, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, or of any other point in Christianity, (inasmuch as the Gospel of Christ condemns them,) we too

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pronounce them impious and abandoned-we, too pursue them with detestation, even to the gates of Hell, and not only so, but if any of these heresies break forth and intrude themselves on our notice, we curb them with the severe and rigid discipline of the civil law.*

We confess indeed that certain new and hitherto unheard of Sects, as Anabaptists, Liber tines, Mennonians, Zuenckfeldians, arose imme diately after the Reformation: but, thanks be to God, the world now sees, clearly enough, that we neither generated, educated, nor nourished these monsters. Peruse, whosoever thou art, peruse our books; they may every where be procured. What work ever proceeded from the pen of any one of our party favourable to the speculations of these madmen? At this At this very hour no countries are so free from this infection as those where the Gospel is freely and publicly preached; and this very circumstance, if properly and attentively considered, is a convincing

* The Bishop appears, in this place, to allude to the execution of George Paris, an Arian, who was burnt in the reign of Edward VI. April 4th, 1551, for Heresy, though he was a German by Nation. Godwin's Annals:

argument that we teach the truth of the Gospel; for darnel springs not up without corn, nor chaff without grain. Who knows not how many heresies simultaneously arose in the times even of the Apostles themselves at the first propagation of the Gospel? Who ever before had heard of Simon, Menander, Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocrates, Cerinthus, Ebion, Valentinus, Secundus, Marcosius, Colorbasius, Heracleon, Lucian, Severus? But why mention these? Epiphanius enumerates eighty, St. Augustin more, and those distinct heresies which grew up together with the Gospel. But what then? Was the Gospel not the Gospel because so many heresies accompanied it? Was Christ, on that account, not Christ? But, as was before observed, it is not among us who freely and publicly teach the Gospel that these Heresies have sprung up. It is among our adversaries, in blindness and in darkness, that these pestilences originate, and receive progressive strength, while the truth is suppressed by them with savage tyranny, and can be heard only in the sequestered corner and the secret meeting. Let them make the experiment: let them give free scope to the Gospel: let the truth of Jesus Christ shine, and emit its rays throughout the Universe; and they will soon see these

shadows disappear before the light of the Gospel, even as the beams of the rising sun dissipate the nocturnal clouds: for whilst our adversaries remain in a state of useless inactivity; we, who are falsely charged with fostering and promoting these heresies, are daily engaged in exposing and repressing them.

As far as regards their accusation of our having lapsed into Sectarianism, enlisted under the banners of Luther and Zuinglius,* and our utter want of unanimity on doctrinal points of the last importance; what would they have said, had they been contemporary with the Apostles and the Fathers? What would What would they have thought, had they heard one affirm, I am of Paul; another, I am of Cephas; a third, I am of Apollos? Had they beheld St. Paul rebuking St. Peter; and, in consequence of a conflict in their

* Zuinglius was the author of the doctrine, and Calvin of the discipline of this Sect, who are now generally known as Calvinists-the designation of Zuinglians having been long disused,

+ The learned Erasmus says, point of wisdom to know how to be a Christian."

"In those days, it was a great

Eras, in Præf. tom. ii. Hieronymi.

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