far as Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, to obtain the best and most genuine copies they could. Neither indeed do the canons and acts of the council of Nice at this day, though they have since that time passed through so many various hands, contain any such thing; no, not even the editions of those very men who are the most interested in the honour of the Popes, as that of Dionysius Exiguus, who published his Latin collection of them about the year of our Saviour 525: nor any other, either ancient or modern.

As to that authentic copy of the council of Nice, which one Friar John, at the council of Florence, pretended to have been the only copy that had escaped the corruptions of the Arians, and which had for this cause been always kept under lock and key at Rome, with all the safety and care that might be, (out of which copy they had transcribed the said canons,) I confess it must needs have been kept up very close, under locks and seals, seeing that three of their Popes, namely, Zozimus, Boniface, and Celestine, could never be able to produce it for the justification of their pretended title against the African Fathers, though in a case of so great importance. And it is a strange thing to me that this man, who came a thousand years after, should now at last make use of it in this cause; whereas those very persons who had it in their custody never so much as mentioned one syllable of it; which is an evident argument that the seals of this rare book were never opened, save only in the brains of this doctor, where alone it was both framed and sealed up; brought forth and vanished all at the same instant; the greatest part of those men that have come after him being ashamed to make use of it any longer, having laid aside this chimerical invention.—(pp. 18—20.)

"We may safely then conclude, that these Popes, Zozimus and Boniface, had no other copies of the council of Nice than what we have; and also, that they did not believe that the canons of the council of Sardica were a part of the council of Nice; but that they rather purposely quoted some of the canons of Sardica, under the name of the canons of the council of Nice. And this they did, according to that maxim which was in force with those of former times, and is not entirely laid aside even in our own; that, for the advancing of a good and godly cause, it is lawful sometimes to use a little deceit, and to have recourse to what are called pious frauds. As they, therefore, firmly believed that the supremacy of their see over all other Churches was a business of great importance, and would be very profitable to all Christendom, we are not to wonder if, for the establishing this right to themselves, they made use of a little legerdemain, in adducing Sardica for Nice; reflecting, that if they brought their design about, this little failing of theirs would, in process of time, be abundantly repaired by the benefit and excellency of the thing itself.

Notwithstanding the opposition made by the African Fathers against the Church of Rome, Pope Leo, not many years after, writing to the Emperor Theodosius, omitted not to make use of the old forgery, citing one of the canons of the council of Sardica for a legitimate canon of the council of Nice; which was the cause, that the Emperor Valentinian also, and his Empress Galla Placidia, writing in behalf of the said Pope Leo to the Emperor Theodosius, affirmed to him for a certain truth, that both all antiquity, and the canons of the council of Nice also, had assigned to the Pope of Rome the power of judging of points of faith, and of the prelates of the Church; Leo having before alleged that this canon of the council of Sardica was one of the canons of Nice. And thus, by a strong perseverance in this pious fraud, they have at length so fully persuaded a great part of Christendom, that the council of Nice had established this supremacy of the Pope of Rome, that it is now generally urged by all of them whenever this point is controverted."(pp. 22, 23.)

From forged writings, Daillé passes on to treat of corruptions in the genuine remains of antiquity. This is unhappily a still

wider subject, and occupies as much space as all that he has treated of before. For instance, "the legates of Pope Leo, in the year 451, in the midst of the council of Chalcedon, where were assembled six hundred bishops, the very flower and choice of the whole clergy, had the confidence to quote the sixth canon of the council of Nice in these words-" that the Church of Rome has always had the primacy;" words which are no more found in any Greek copies of the councils, than those pretended canons of Pope Zozimus; neither do they appear in any Greek or Latin copies, nor so much as in the edition of Dionysius Exiguus, who lived about fifty years after the council." After many other instances of corruption in the canons of councils and other like documents, our Author proceeds :

"We do not here write against these men; it is sufficient for us to give a hint only of that which is as clear as the sun, namely, that they have altered and corrupted, by their additions in some places, and curtailing in others, very many of the evidences of the ancient belief. These are they, who in this part of the 12th Epistle of St. Cyprian, written to the people of Carthage-'I desire that they would but patiently hear our council, &c., that our fellowBishops being assembled together with us, we may together examine the letters and desires of the blessed martyrs, according to the doctrine of our Lord, and in the presence of the confessors, et secundum vestram quoque sententiam (and according as you also shall think convenient)-have maliciously left out these words, et secundum vestram quoque sententiam: by which we may plainly understand, that these men would not by any means have us know, that the faithful people had ever anything to do with, or had any vote in the affairs of the Church. These are the same, who, in his 40th Epistle, have changed Petram into Petrum (a Rock into St. Peter); and who, following the steps of the ancient corruptors, have foisted into his tract, De Unitate Ecclesia, wherever they thought fit, whole periods and sentences, against the faith of the best and most uncorrupted manuscripts; as, for example, in this place: He built his Church on Him alone (St. Peter), and commanded him to feed his sheep; and in this :- He established one sole chair:' and this other: The primacy was given to Peter, to shew that there was but one Church, and one chair of Christ;' and this:- Who left the chair to Peter, on which he had built his Church.' These being additions which every one may see the object of.

These are the men who cannot conceal the regret they have for not having suppressed an Epistle of Firmilianus, Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, who was one of the most eminent persons of his time; which Epistle Manutius had indeed omitted in his Roman edition of St. Cyprian, but was afterwards inserted by Morellius in his, amongst the Epistles of St. Cyprian, to whom it was written; and all because it informs us how the other Bishops in ancient times had dealt with the Pope. Thus we may hence observe of what temper these men have always been, and may guess how many similar pieces have been killed in the nest. Out of the like storehouse it is, that poor St. Ambrose is sent abroad, but so ill accoutred, and in so pitiful a flight, that Nicolas Faber has very much bewailed the corruption of him. For those gentlemen who have published him being over ingenious (as he saith) in another man's works, have changed, mangled, and transposed divers things and especially have they separated the books of the 'Interpellation of Job,'

* "Atque adeo fortassis consultius foret, nunquam editam fuisse hanc epistolam ; ita ut putent, consulto illam omisisse Manutium."-Pamel, in arg, ep. 75. Cypr,

and of David, which were put together in all other editions; and to do this they have, by no very commendable example, foisted in and altered divers things; and they have likewise done as much in the First Apology of David;" and more yet in the second, where they have erased out of the eighth chapter five or six lines, which are found in all the ancient editions of this Father. They have also attributed to this author certain tracts which are not his: as that Of the Forbidden Tree;' and that other, upon the last chapter of the Proverbs. We may, by the way, also take notice, that this is the edition which they followed, who printed St. Ambrose's works at Paris, anno 1603. They were such hands as these that so villainously curtailed the book 'Of the Lives of the Popes,' written by Anastasius, or rather by Damasus; leav ing out, in the very entry of it, the author's epistle dedicatory, written to St. Hierome, because it did not so well suit with the present temper of Rome: omitting, in like manner, in the life of St. Peter, the passage which I shall here quote as it is found in all manuscripts:-' He consecrated St. Clement Bishop, and committed to his charge the ordering of his seat, or of the whole Church, saying, As the power of binding, and loosing, was delivered to me by my Lord Jesus Christ, in like manner do I commit to thy charge the appointing of such persons as may determine such ecclesiastical causes as may arise; that thou thyself mayest not be taken up with worldly cares, but mayest apply thy whole studies only to prayer, and preaching to the people. After he had thus disposed of his seat, he was crowned with martyrdom. This is the testament that St. Peter made; but it has been suppressed and kept from us, because in it he has charged his successors with such duties as are quite contrary both to their humour and practice. In another place, in their same book, instead of Papa Urbis (that is to say, 'the Pope or Bishop of the city,' namely, of Rome, as all manuscripts have it), these worthy gentlemen will needs have us read, Papa Orbis, that is, the Bishop of the whole world: inasmuch as this is now the style of the court, and this has long since become the title of the Bishop of Rome.

"These are the men, who in Fulbertus, Bishop of Chartres (where he cites that remarkable passage of St. Augustine, 'This then is a figure commanding us to communicate of the passion of the Lord'), have inserted these words: 'Figura ergo est, dicet hæreticus:' (it is a figure then, will a heretic say :) cunningly making us believe this to be the saying of a heretic, which was indeed the true sense and meaning of St. Augustine himself, and so cited by Fulbertus. These are the very men also, who in St. Gregory have changed exercitus sacerdotum into exitus sacerdotum; reading, in the 38th Epistle of his fourth book, thus:- All things, &c., which have been foretold, are accomplished. The king of pride (he speaks of Antichrist) is at hand; and, which is horrible to be spoken, the failing (or end) of priests is prepared: whereas the manuscripts (and it is so cited by Bellarmine too) read, An army of priests is prepared for him.'

These are they who have made Aimonius to say, that the Fathers of the pretended eighth general council had ordained the adoration of images, according as had been before determined by the orthodox doctors:' whereas he wrote quite contrary, that they had ordained otherwise than had been formerly determined by the orthod. doct.:' as appears plainly, not only by the manuscripts, but also by the most ancient editions of this author; and even by Cardinal Baronius, quoting this passage also, in the tenth tome of his Annals, anno Domini 869.

"These are they who have entirely erased this following passage out of Ecumenius: For they who defended and favoured the law, introduced also the worshipping of angels; and that, because the law had been given by them. And this custom continued long in Phrygia, insomuch that the council of Laodicea made a decree, forbidding to make any addresses to angels, or to pray to them: whence also it is that we find many temples among them erected to Michael the Archangel.

"This passage David Hoeschelius, in his notes upon the books of Origen

against Celsus, p. 483, witnesses that he himself had seen and read in his manuscripts of Ecumenius; and yet there is no such thing to be found in any of the printed copies."-(pp. 54-58.)

The next difficulty of which our Author treats arises from the language and idioms of many of the Fathers, the change in the meaning of terms, and the "rhetorical flourishes and logical subtleties" with which their writings abound. In this he speaks of mistranslations, whether through ignorance or design, and gathers a copious list to prove how cautious we should be in accepting second-hand authorities. We have the following pithy specimen, for instance, of Romish translations :—

"Whosoever hath yet a mind to be further satisfied how far these men's translations are to be trusted, let him but take the pains to compare the Greeks' preface to Origen's books against Celsus, with the Latin translation of Christopherus Persona; and, if he please, he will do well to run over some part of the books themselves: and if he is desirous of exposing himself to the laughter of the Protestants, let him but produce, upon the honest word of this worthy interpreter, this passage out of the fifth book for the Invocation of Angels:-'We ought to send up our vows, and all our prayers and thanksgivings to God, by the Angel who has been set over the rest by him who is the Bishop, the living Word, and God:' in which words he seems to intimate that Jesus Christ hath appointed some one of the angels to hear our prayers, and that by him we ought to present them to God: whereas Origen says the direct contrary; namely, That we ought to send up to God, who is above all things, all our demands, prayers, and requests, by the great High Priest, the living Word, and God, who is above all the angels:'-Пaσav μev γαρ δεησιν, και πασαν προσευχην, και έντευξιν και ευχαριστίαν ἀναπεμπτεον τῷ ἐπι πασι θεῳ, δια του ἐπι παντων ἀγγελων ἀρχιερέως, έμψυχου λόγου, και θεού.” (pp. 72, 73)

The specimen of controversial honesty adduced in the note to the following paragraph, is also very instructive:

"What strange sentences and passages of authors are those that require more time and trouble in elucidating them, than in deciding the controversy itself, and which multiply differences rather than determine them; oftentimes serving as a covert and retreating place to both parties? Thus the sense and meaning of these words is debated:- This is my body.' For the explaining of them there is brought this passage out of Tertullian; and that other out of St. Augustine. Now I would have any man speak in his conscience what he thinks, whether or not these words are not as clear, or clearer, than those passages which they quote from these Fathers, as they are explained by the different parties. I desire, reader, no other judge than yourself, whosoever you are; only provided that you will but vouchsafe to read and examine that which is now said upon these places, and consider the strange turnings and contortions that they make us take, to bring us to the right sense and meaning of them. In a word, if the most able men that exist did not find themselves extremely puzzled and perplexed in distinguishing the genuine writings of the Fathers from the spurious, it is not likely that the censors of the Low Countries, who are all choice and select men,. should be obliged to shew us so ill an example of finding a way to help ourselves, when the authority of the ancients is so strongly pressed against us by our adversaries, as they do, in excusing the expressions of the Fathers

sometimes, by some handsomely-contrived invention, and in putting some convenient probable sense upon them.” *—(pp. 78, 79.)

A more serious evil is the rhetorical licence practised by several of the Fathers, and which, as the following instance proves, has betrayed Jerome into direct and revolting falsehood:

"But that I may make it plainly and evidently appear how much these ornaments darken the sense of an author, I shall only here lay before you one instance, taken from St. Hierome; who, writing to Eustochium, gives her an account how he was brought before the presence of our Lord, for being too much addicted to the study of secular learning, and was there really with stripes chastised for it. Think not (says he) that this was any of those drowsy fancies or vain dreams which sometimes deceive us. I call to witness hereof, that tribunal before which I then lay; and that said judgment, which I was then in dread of. So may I never hereafter fall into the like danger, as this is true! I do assure you, that I found my shoulders to be all over black and blue with the stripes I then received, and which I afterwards felt when I awoke. So that I have ever since had a greater affection to the reading of divine books, than I ever before had to the study of human learning.'

"Now hearing Hierome speak thus, who would not believe this to be a true story? and who would understand this narration in the literal sense! Yet it appears plainly, from what he has elsewhere confessed, that all this was but a mere dream, and a rhetorical piece of artifice, frequently used by the masters in this art; contrived only for the better and more powerful diverting men from their too great affection to the books of the heathens. For Ruffinus, quarrelling with him on this account, and objecting against him, that, contrary to the oath which he had before taken, he did notwithstanding still apply himself to the study of Pagan learning: St. Hierome, after he had alleged many things to clear himself from this accusation, says, Thus you see what I could have urged for myself, had I promised any such thing waking: but now do but take notice of this new and unheard-of kind of impudence; he objects against me my very dreams!' Then presently he refers him to the words of the prophets, saying, 'We must not take heed to dreams."-(pp. 91, 92.)

The sixth chapter treats of the reserve practised by the Fathers, and the great impediment which it throws in the way of a just interpretation. Here too St. Jerome has the bad eminence of justifying his own practice at the expense of honesty, and the reputation of his predecessors, many of whom were comparatively free from the charge. But it became the virulent abettor of the growing superstitions to be the foremost in lowering the standard of Christian morality:

"We have learned together (says he, writing to Pammachius), that there are divers sorts of discourse; and among the rest, that it is one thing to write γυμναστικως (by way of disputation), and another thing to write δογματικώς (by way of instruction). In the former of these the disputes are free and discursive; where, in answering an adversary, and proposing one time one thing, and another time another, a man argueth as he pleases; speaking one

"Plurimos in Catholicis veteribus errores excogitato commento persæpe negamus, et commodum iis sensum affingimus, dum opponuntur in disputationibus, aut in conflictibus cum adversariis."-Ind. Exp. Belg. in Bertr.