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CYRIL of ALEXANDRIA.

Comm. in Joan. Evang., lib. xii. c. 36.

Paris, 1573, p. 1014.

Credere namque debemus, quum a corporibus Sanctorum animæ. abierint, tanquam in manus clarissimi Patris, bonitati divinæ commendari: nec ut quidam infidelium crediderint, in terris conversari quousque sepulturæ honoribus affectæ sint, nec ut peccatorum animæ, ad immensi cruciatus locum, id est ad inferos deferri, itinere hoc nobis a Christo primum præparato, sed in manus potius patris evolare, . firmiter credentes in manibus

Dei nos post mortem futuros, vitamque multo meliorem ac perpetuo cum Christo victuros. If Cyril had been writing expressly against purgatory, how could he more exactly have opposed it than he has done here?

LEO I. Epist. 91st. ad Theodorum, in Biblioth. Patr. Colon., 1618, vol. v. part 2. p. 929.

Mediator enim Dei et hominum homo Christus Jesus hanc Præpositis Ecclesiæ tradidit potestatem, ut et confitentibus actionem pœnitentiæ darent: et eosdem salubri satisfactione purgatos ad Communionem Sacramentorum per januam reconciliationis admitterent.

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Si autem aliquis eorum, pro quibus Domino supplicamus, quocunque interceptus obstaculo, a munere indulgentiæ præsentis exciderit, et priusquam ad constituta remedia perveniat, temporalem vitam humana conditione finierit: quod munus in corpore non receperit, consequi exutus carne non poterit. Nec necesse est nos eorum qui sic obierint, merita actusque discutere: cum Dominus Deus noster cujus judicia nequeunt comprehendi, quod sacerdotale ministerium implere non potuit, suæ justitiæ reservaverit : ita potestatem suam timeri volens, ut hic terror omnibus prosit, et quod quibusdam tepidis aut negligentibus accidit, nemo non metuat. Multum enim utile ac necessarium est; ut peccatorum reatus ante ultimum diem Sacerdotali supplicatione solvatur.

MACARIUS. Homil. 22. Francfort, 1594, p. 302.

Ubi evolaverit e corpore anima hominis, mysterium quoddam

magnum illic perficitur. Si enim fuerit rea peccati, accedunt chori dæmonum et angeli sinistri, ac potestates tenebrarum abripiunt animam illam atque subjugatam in suas partes pertrahunt: . . . Sanctis siquidem servis Dei ab hoc tempore astant angeli, ac spiritus sancti circumdant, et custodiunt eos. Cumque exierint e corpore, chori angelorum assumtas eorum animas in suam partem pertrahunt, in seculum perpetuum, et sic adducunt eos ad Dominum.

PAGE 153.-(On Papal Supremacy.)

In the great Council at Constantinople, which condemned this of Florence, as mentioned above, pp. 93, 108, the following charges of schism and heresy were brought against the Romans.

1. Non pingere imagines archetypis similes. 2. Sæculares cantus et modulos Ecclesiasticis psalmodiis accommodare. 3. In Ecclesiis masculos et fœminas simul confundi, oririque inde plurima scandala. 4. Ecclesiasticis nuptias prohibere. 5. Non orare ad orientem. 6. Azymo sacrificium conficere. 7. Quidquid Deo inest, substantiam esse, asseverare, et lumen quod in Thabario monte apparuit, creaturam esse suspicari. 8. Crucem papam super pedem effigiare, quam Christus super humerum tulit. 9. Cubantem mysteriorum participem fieri, nec debita reverentia circa eum uti. 10. Mercedem a meretricibus accipere. 11. Jejunare sabbato, comedereque carnes festa quarta. 12. Contra decreta Septimæ Synodi Deum patrem coloribus exprimere. 13. Dum se cruce signant, initium facere a parte sinistra. 14. Papam sæcularem auctoritatem sibi usurpare, cum, successione a Christo, nullam ipse habeat. 15. Si exhibeantur pecuniæ, papam a jejunio Christianos absolvere. 16. Contra Sacræ Scripturæ Sancita concedere parentibus, primogenitum tantum hæredem facere. 17. Cultum latriæ exhibere imagini Christi, et cruci, quæ soli tradi verbo Deo et homini debetur. 18. Sculptilia adorare. 19. Sacerdoti Scortatori permittere ut missam celebret. 20. Gradus nuptiarum conservare. 21. Non statim chrismate caput inungere baptizati, ut est divina traditio. 22. Non orare stantes sabbato et dominica. 23. Com

edere suffocata.

24. Pœnis temporalibus eos, qui circa fidem delinquunt punire. 25. Non præcipere iis qui injuriam fecerunt, veniam petere ab eo qui accepit, sed manere in illis odium perpetuum.-Conc. xiii. p. 1369.

LATERAN V.

PAGE 154. (Authority over the Press.)

This decree may serve to show how entirely the Roman publishers are under the control of their ecclesiastical superiors: and, therefore, with what extreme difficulty in any case, those superiors can free themselves from the imputation of sanctioning the doctrines which may be contained in any publications printed by their own people, and not immediately withdrawn. This decree was confirmed by the Council of Trent.

TRENT.

Observe. The marginal references to Scripture and to the Councils, usually found in the editions of the Council of Trent, have been omitted in these extracts; because, as we are informed by the editors of the Roman edition 1763, they are not to be found in the original documents in the Vatican, but have been added to the several editions by private hands.

For the same reason the Latin heads of the chapters subsequent to the decrees upon communion in one kind have been omitted.

DECREE CONCERNING THE CREED.

PAGE 157, line 4.-(Firm and only foundation.)

That the brand of innovation upon Catholic doctrine might be indelibly imprinted upon the corruptions of the Roman Church, it has pleased Almighty God to cause the Bishops of the Council of Trent to be indisputable witnesses of it. In 1546 we find them in this decree, testifying that "the symbol of faith which the holy Roman Church" then used, the "shield against all here

sies," "the firm and only foundation against which the gates of hell shall not prevail," was that which to this day is used in the Church of England without alteration or addition, the same (with the exception of the interpolation "and the Son"), which the holy Church, throughout all the world, has received and professed since the year 381. Within twenty years after this testimony did the Bishop of Rome put forth another creed, containing points of doctrine which not only never had a place in any former creed, but against many of which the Fathers of the Church collectively and individually have borne testimony: and this now is made the schismatical term of communion, in that which was once a genuine branch of the Catholic and Apostolic Church. "How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed!" Lament. iv. 3. "Turn thou them unto

thee, O Lord, and they shall be turned; renew their days as of old." Ibid. v. 21.

The application which is here made of the text, Matt. xvi. 18, is worthy of observation. The Tridentine Fathers set forth as "the only foundation of the Church, against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail ;" not the Apostle Peter, and his successors in the See of Rome, but the confession of the true faith. This is the exposition of the text given by many of the Fathers.—Chrysostom, Homil. in Pentecost. Edit. Benedict. vi. 233. Cyril of Alexandria, de Sanct. Trinitate. Dial. iv. Paris, 1573, p. 310 ; and Hilary de Trinitat. lib. vi. c. 37. Edit. Wirceb. i. 169; and several others. But it is, in general, strenuously opposed by the Roman controversialists, who insist upon applying the passage to Peter himself and his successors. It is not without interest, therefore, to find the Council of Trent, in opposition to them, applying it to the confession of faith, and not to Peter.

DECREE CONCERNING THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURE.

PAGE 160, line 12.-(Continual Succession in the Catholic

Church.)

Let the words of the fifty-six bishops, who composed this General (!) Council, be well weighed. The traditions which they profess to receive are 66 those" relating both to faith and morals, "which have been, as it were orally dictated, either by Christ or by the Holy Spirit, and preserved by continual succession in the Catholic Church." Here is an appeal to a test by which to try the genuineness of anything which claims to be an ecclesiastical or apostolic tradition; that test is, that it should have been "preserved by continual succession in the Catholic Church." Now the only witnesses of such continued preservation in the Catholic Church, must be the records of the Church, the decrees of Councils, and the writings of the Fathers. Nor does it appear that any member of the Church of Rome, by virtue of this decree, is bound to receive any thing as a genuine tradition, which is not attested as such by these witnesses. If this is, as I conceive it to be, the plain and legitimate meaning of the decree, no just exception can be taken to the decree unless it can be shown, which I challenge the writers on the Roman side to prove, that there is any one point of "faith or morals" insisted upon, as necessary to salvation, or a term of communion; on the score of its being an Apostolic tradition, by this "continual succession " of witnesses, which is not also contained in Holy Scripture, nor may be proved thereby." For, unless that can be shown, the standard for Christian doctrine, authorized by the Council of Trent, will not, in effect, vary from that of the Church of England: it will resolve itself into the Holy Scriptures, nor will their clergy be compelled nor authorized by virtue of this decree, to insist upon any thing in faith or morals, as necessary to salvation, which the Scriptures do not attest. I beg distinctly to be understood as speaking only of the terms of this decree. If the Romans in practice have departed from their

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