plicitly therein contained; or, Secondly, provided that though they are not exprefly, or implicitly there, they are expreffed or implicitly contained in the Scriptures, in which the whole Faith was delivered to the Saints.

Then you go on with a triumphant inference: Wherefore as Errors arife from time to time, we are to propofe that Doctrine of Faith once delivered, which impugns the Error, or rather, Sir, if you please, which the Error impugns. This I confefs is very true, but then we muft fhew the Doctrine which is impugned by the pretended Error to be a Do&trine of the Faith once delivered to the Saints: which must be done by fhewing it out of the Creed, or out of the Scriptures: For to propofe a Do&rine as a Doctrine of Faith, which cannot be proved out of either of them, is not to propofe, but impofe, as your Church doth in Pin's Creed. Wherein let me tell you, fhe hath expofed her felf with her falfe Doctrines of Faith to God, Angels and Men. Then it follows: Now the propofing a Doctrine once deliver'd to the Saints against an immerging Error', cannot be faid to be the coining of a Doctrine, but the use of that Faith_once delivered. But the propofing of a Doctrine, as a Doctrine of Faith once delivered, which was never delivered as fuch, is coining, and forgeing of a Doctrine with a witness, and an impudent abuse of the Faith once delivered to the Saints. This, Sir, is the Crime with which we charge your Church, and therefore I challenged my Adverfary to purge her of it; by fhewing that the Trent-Doctrines were once delivered as Doctrines of Faith to the Saints:

I hold it (then fay you) as an Article of my Faith, that no Authority on Earth can set up a new Doctrine of Faith: And what then, Sir, I hold it alfo as an Article of my Faith, and it is an Article of Faith that hath been held from the Be

ginning

ginning, a Preliminary Article of Faith to the Creed, and prefuppofed to it, and manifeftly taught in the Scriptures; and in virtue of this Article of Faith, we have forfaken the Roman Church, because she hath fet up New Doctrines of Faith, which were not delivered to the Saints, and which we therefore cannot profefs without making our felves Schifmaticks to the Holy Catholick Apoftolick Church. Then you go on: But it is as much an Article of my Faith, that we must contend for the whole Faith delivered to the Saints, of which many Doctrines are not expreffed in the mentioned Creeds, and yet held to be of Faith by Proteftants; as that Baptifm and the Lord's Supper are Sacraments, and neceffary to Salvation. To which I anfwer, that it is an Article of my Faith alfo, that we fhould contend for the whole Faith once delivered to the Saints, though many Doctrines are not expressed in thofe Creeds, because they are taught in the Scriptures: For which reafon we hold the Sacraments of Baptifm and the Lord'sSupper to be Doctrines of Faith, and the practice of them neceffary to Salvation, though not expreffed in the Creeds, because they were plainly taught in the Scriptures to the Saints, where the Trent Articles of Faith cannot be found.

The mistake of Proteftants in imputing to Catholicks, that they coin new Doctrines, proceeds from this; that in cafes of Debate the Catholick Church affembled by its Reprefentatives in a Council, decides the Dif pute, by propofing the Doctrine once delivered to the Saints against a new Error: So that though the declarative Sentence of the Catholick Church be New, as the oppofite Error is New which occafioned it, yet the Doctrine then declared is that, which the Fathers brought to the Council, to which they come as Witneffes and Reporters from their several Churches, and by confequence the Doctrine not New.

Here, Sir, I muft obferve, First, that you ftill prefume your felves to be Catholicks, and your Church to be the Catholick Church, and always argue upon this Prefumption; which as I obferved, is a very Precarious as well as a moft Arrogant way of arguing, which you your felves would not bear in the Greek Church. Suppofe then the Greek Church had affembled a Council more general and free than that of Trent, confifting all of real Diocefan Bishops, &c. and that in this Council fhe had determined against the Supremacy, or Spiritual Monarchy of the Bishop of Rome, or for the Proceffion of the Holy Ghoft from the Father, by, or through the Son, would you not laugh at any Greek who' fhould argue against you, as you do against me in this Period; faying, the Miftake of the Latins in imputing to Catholicks, that they Coin new Doctrines, proceeds from this, that in Cafes of Debate the Catholick Church affembled, &c. And if you would not allow the Greek Church to affume unto it felf the Title, Honour, and Perfon of the Catholick Church; and pre-fuppofe and premise that as a certain Truth to all Difputes and Controverfies between you, you must expect that neither we, nor any other Church will allow you to argue upon that falfe Prefumption, as a Preliminary Article to all Debates and Treaties between you and us. Secondly, I muft obferve that you as falfly fuppofe the Council of Trent to have been a Free and General Council of the Catholick Church, which you know all Christendom out of your Communion, as well as we, deny. You fay, the Fathers in the Catholick Church bring the Doctrines they declare from their feveral Churches: I pray you then tell me, Sir, from what Churches the mere titular Bishops in the Council of Trent, who had no Churches, brought the Doctrines of it; and yet they had as good Votes in the Synod as the Bishops, who had Churches, and were the

Squadrone

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Squadrone Volante of the Popes. Again, what do you mean by faying, they bring their Doctrine from their feveral Churches? For the old Cuftom was for General Councils to examine all Doctrines in Debate by the Scriptures, and Fathers; and from thence, declare what Doctrines in debate were True or Falfe, Primitive or Novel, of Faith or not of Faith. This was the way of proceeding in the first General Council of Nice, in the Debate about ouoso. They fhew'd that the Word had been used by the Fathers, who lived before them, in the fame Senfe as they ufed it in the Creed; and that the Doctrine fignified thereby was in the Scriptures, and the conftant Doctrine of the Fathers from the Time of the Apostles. The third General Council of Ephefus proceeded in the fame manner, as one of the best Writers of the Latin Church, Vincentius Lirinenfis, hath fhew'd, Commonitor. cap. xli, xlii. Diximus in fuperioribus, &c. I have faid above, that this always was, and now is the Custom of Catholicks, to prove the Faith by thefe two ways. First, By the Authority of the Canonical Scriptures, and then by the Tradition of the Catholick Church. Not that the Scriptures alone are not fufficient to determine all Controverfies, but that very many interpreting God's Word according to their own pleasure, invent various Opinions and Errors. I have inftanced in the Proceedings of the Council of Ephefus, which met three Years ago, to fhew we should not bring any thing out of our own Prefumption, but from Ecclefiaftical Authority. when they debated there about fixing Points of Faith, it feemed the most Catholick, reafonable, and agreeable way of proceeding to all the Bishops, who were about two Hundred, left any New Doctrines should be introduced by Tricks, as in the Council of Ari

For

Bulli Defenfio Fidei Nicena. §. 11. 8. Suiceri Thefaur. Eccl, in voce iμości.

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minum ;

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minum to refolve, that in all Debates [against Neftorius] the Opinions of the Holy Fathers fhould be produced in Council; whereof it was evident, that fome had been Martyrs, others Confeffors, and all Catholicks: To the end, that out of their confentient determinations the Sanctity of the Old Doctrine fhould be confirmed, and the Blafphemy of the New condemned. Then he proceeds to name the Fathers whofe Writings they cited, as Judges, or Witneffes against Neftorius, as Petrus Alexandrinus the Martyr, St. Cyprian, &c. and then tells us, that the Fathers intended nothing, nifi ut expugnata novitate, antiquitas defenderetur: And that it was the unanimous Voice and Vote of them all, Antiqua fidei dogmata confirmari, Novitia vero, & fuperflue ad inventa, & impie promulgata reprobari atque nari. They took, faith he, all manner of Precaution; ne aliquid pofteris traderent, quod ipfi a Patribus non accipiffent; that they might not deliver any thing to Pofterity, which they had not received from the Fathers. In another place, faith he, We must follow Univerfality, Antiquity, and Confent. Univerfality, as when we profess that to be the one true Faith, which the Church confeffed throughout the whole World. Antiquity, when we in no wise recede from the Sentiments, which it is manifeft our Holy Fathers and Predeceffors, openly and plainly taught. And Confent, when in Antiquity we follow the Determinations and Sentences of all, or well nigh all the Bishops and Doctors of the Church. So cap. xxxviii. How in the Holy Scriptures fhall we diftinguish Truth from Falfhood? by doing as I have written holy and learned Men have done, if we interpret them according to the Rules of Catholick Doctrine, and the Traditions of the Univerfal Church, in which we are obliged to follow the Univerfality, Antiquity, and Confent of the Catholick, Apoftolick Church. And

• Common. cap. 3.

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where