no want of unity among the worshippers of the Golden Calf; nor among those who with united voices cried out against our Saviour; Crucify him, Crucify him. Nor, although we observe the Corinthians torn by dissensions, a diversity of opinion existing between Paul and Peter, Barnabas and Paul; and the Primitive Christians at variance on some points of doctrine; are we therefore to conclude there was no Church of God among them. Those, whom our adversaries contemptuously denominate Zuinglians, and Lutherans, (but who in reality are Christians, united by the ties of friendship and fraternity,) do not differ respecting the principles and fundamental points of our religion, upon God, upon Christ, upon the Holy Spirit, upon the means of Justification, or Eternal Life: it is only upon one point, and that of no great weight and importance: nor do we despair, or rather we do not so much as doubt of the speedy restoration of concord;-and if there be any whose opinions are erroneous, we trust, that all party spirit and selfish views being abandoned, God will grant them ability to see the delusion under which they labour, so that, as in the Council of Chalcedon, the subject being fairly discussed,

all the roots and branches of discord may be eradicated, and cut off, and buried in the grave of everlasting oblivion. Amen.

But the charge they bring against us, that we are men of abandoned habits, and careless of religion, is indeed one of the most serious complexion: though in truth it should not much affect us; because they themselves who bring it know that it is scandalous and false. Justin Martyr tells us, that at the first preaching of the Gospel and open declaration of the name of Christ, all Christians were called Atheists! When Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, appeared before the tribunal of the Proconsul, the words by which the populace incited him to the massacre and destruction of every professor of the Gospel, were, * Αίρε τους ̓Αθέους; that is, remove those impious men who do not acknowledge a God. Not that the Christians in reality denied God, but because they did not pay their adoration to stocks and stones, which then received the divine worship. But the world sees plainly enough what trials and sufferings we have endured at

* Euseb. lib. iv. cap. 15.

their hand for the sake of our religion and our God. Imprisonment, flames, and water have been our portion. They have wallowed in our blood, not because we were adulterers, robbers, murderers; but because we acknowledged the Gospel of Jesus Christ; because we put our whole trust and confidence in the living God; because, O gracious Father! we too truly, too justly complained, that by their vain traditions they had violated the divine Law; that these our adversaries, who have both wilfully and obstinately despised the commandments of God, were hostile to the Gospel, and enemies of the Cross of Christ.

But these men, as soon as they clearly perceived that our Doctrine could not fairly be impugned, made our Morals the subject of their invective: they accused us of condemning all Good Works; of opening the door to Licentiousness and Profligacy, and of seducing the people from the Paths of Virtue,

We must indeed confess that the lives of the most devout and pious Christians always were, and ever will be, liable to some exceptions, how

ever pure and chaste their conversation may have been, And such is our natural propensity to evil, and the proneness of our minds to suspicion, that what was never either done or dreamt of, hath often been reported and credited as matter of fact. For as in the whitest garment the least stain is easily detected, so in the most spotless character is the slightest flaw without difficulty discovered. Neither do we consider all those who have embraced the doctrines of the Reformation as angels without spot or blemish; nor our opponents so blind, as not to observe whatever is blameable in us, however minute; nor so friendly, as to put a favourable construction on it; nor so ingenuous, as to look back upon themselves, and weigh our merits by their own. But then, if we diligently enquire into this matter from the beginning, we find that even in the times of the Apostles there were some Christians who caused the name of Christ to be blasphemed and evil spoken of amongst the Gentiles.

The Emperor Constantine is related by Sozomen to have made heavy complaints, that many persons, after they had entered the Christian Church, became worse than they were before;

and St. Cyprian *thus bewails the corruptions of his own times: "The wholesome discipline, which the Apostles delivered unto us, a long period of ease and undisturbed repose has utterly destroyed; men are intent upon enlarging their possessions, and apply themselves with insatiable avarice to the improvement of their fortunes; wholly neglecting the examples of the early believers in the time of the Apostles, which ought on all occasions to be followed. There are now no devout priests-no sincere faith in the ministers -no compassion in works of mercy-no restraint in morals: men are become effeminate, and woman's beauty is counterfeit :" and before him, Tertullian exclaims in like sadness of spirit,"Wo unto us who are now called Christians! We live the Lives of Heathens under that venerable name,"

But without reciting any more authorities we will conclude in the words of Gregory Nazienzen when describing the deplorable state of his own times: "We are now hated by the Heathen on account of our vices, and are become objects of

• De Lapsis.