Church discipline and national education, a charge delivered to the clergy of the diocese of Llandaff

"after in the West, the council of Frankfort, con

sisting of about three hundred bishops, reversed "that decree; and after that, the council of Trent "did re-establish it, though the voting persons were "not fifty. With such uncertain doubts of belief "must they move who follow a guide in religion, "without reference to a further rule.

"But here," saith he, "there is offered to us by "the guide in controversies, an objection, of which "this is the sum, that the fifth canon of the Church of England does declare that the Thirty-nine Articles "were agreed upon for the avoidance of the diversities

of opinion, and the establishing of consent, touching "true religion. Consent touching true religion, is con"sent in matters of faith. Establishing of consent, "relating both to laity and clergy. The third and "fourth canon decree the excommunication of those who will not abjure their holding popery and Soci"nianism. The reformed churches in France teach "the like doctrine, threatening to cut them off from the Church, who acquiesce not in the resolution of a "national synod. The same course was taken with "the remonstrants in the synod of Dort. Wherefore, "Protestants ought not to detract from the authority of general councils, whilst they assume to themselves so great a power in particular synods." The Archbishop never did detract from the just authority of general councils, though he held and proved too, D 2

that they might err. But hear his own reply, "The "force of this objection," saith he, "is thus re"moved. Every Church hath power of admitting "or excluding members, else it hath not means suffi"cient to its end, the order and concord of the body. "Every particular church ought to believe that it "does not err in its definitions, for it ought not to "impose any known error upon its members. But though it believes it does not err, it does not "believe it upon this reason, because God hath "made it an infallible judge, but rather for this, "because it hath sincerely, and with God's assistance, "followed a rule which is infallible, and upon this supposition it imposeth doctrines, and includeth "such as with contumacy dissent from them."

"God," saith the same writer, "hath not set up "any one person in the Catholic Church, (and the same might be said of councils, or of pope and coun

cil,) in the quality of an unerring guide in the "Christian faith. The bishops of Rome, who

pretend to this prerogative, do but pretend; it is a "tender point, and the pope's legates in the council "of Trent were enjoined to give forth this advertise"ment, that the fathers upon no account whatso"ever should touch it, or dispute about it. They "who examine it, will soon reject it as false and "useless." He adds this significant remark," Mar"tin the Fifth received the papal mitre from the

"council of Constance, after it had deposed Gre'gory the Twelfth, Benedict the Thirteenth, and "John the Twenty-third.

"The guide in controversies," saith the Archbishop, "puts the question in these terms, whether "a Protestant refusing the submission of his judgment "to the authority or infallibility of the Catholic Church "in her councils, can have in the several articles of necessary faith, wherein the sense of Scripture is controverted, as sure a foundation of his faith as he "who submits his judgment to the foresaid authority, or also infallibility." Here," saith our advocate,

"in the place of the Roman Church, the word "authority is put, and that plea for Rome is dropped, and infallibility is (also) joined together with

authority, and it is suggested dishonestly, concern"ing the reformed, that they lay aside the authority "of the Catholic Church in her general councils. Authority may be owned where there is not infal"libility; for infallibility is not in parents natural, or "civil, yet both teach and govern us. In sum (he adds) we say with St. Austin, that there is in

councils in the Church of God, a most wholesome "(though not infallible) authority. St. Austin's words "are, in Ecclesiá Dei saluberrimam esse auctoritatem 1"

By this rule," saith this grave prelate, "the primi"tive fathers governed themselves, and this they

1 Ep. 118.

commended to the churches, and Clemens Alex"andrinus does in terms call the consent of the Old

and New Testament, the Ecclesiastical Canon, and " the touchstone of true and false, ἀληθῶν καὶ ψευδῶν " κριτήριον.

"It is commonly said," he adds, "by men "of the Roman Church, but injudiciously enough, "that we may as well receive the creed from "them as we do the Bible. we do the Bible. But for the Re"formed Church they have received neither creed "nor Bible from the Church of Rome. The first "enumeration of these books they find in the

Apostolical Canons, and in those of the Council "of Laodicea-no western writings. They have "received the Scriptures from the Universal Church "of all ages and places, the copies of them having "been as widely dispersed as the Christians them"selves. And they received them, not from the infallibility of any particular church, but upon the I validity of this sure principle, that all the Christ"ian world, so widely dispersed, could not possibly

conspire in imposing false books upon them. For

For

particular churches, we may of all others suspect the Roman, in reference to the Scriptures. "what sincerity of dealing may we hope for from "such a cabal of men as has forged decrees of "Councils and Popes, and obtruded them upon the

1 Strom. 7.

world; apocryphal books as books canonical; purged out of the writings of the Fathers such places as were contrary to their innovations; depressed the originals under an imperfect Latin copy, and left on purpose in that copy some places uncorrected, for the serving of turns, of " which he gives a remarkable example, as Gen. iii. 15, against the Hebrew text, the translation of "the Seventy, and the readings of the Fathers."

"It is true," saith he, "all sects of Christians "cite the Scriptures, but that does not prove the obscurity of those sacred writings. It rather "shows the partiality, boldness, and sophistry of those who allege them. All laws are obscure, if this argument has force in it; for every man, in his own case, has the law on his side. Men take up their opinions and heresies from other reasons, " and then, because the name of the Scriptures is "venerable, they rake into the several books of it, " and they bend and torture places, and force them "on their side by unnatural construction."

And this is his conclusion: "If men would use "the Church as their ministring guide, and admit "of the Scriptures as the only rule by which all "matters of faith are to be measured, they would agree in the proper means to the blessed end of unity in the faith."

In referring to the volume published on this subject by Dr. Wise, of Canterbury, now not easily to

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Church discipline and national education, a charge delivered to the clergy ...