Patriarchs* and Prophets, and thus supported and preserved until the very time when Christ manifested himself in the Flesh.

But, oh Eternal God! how often during this period was the Church darkened and obscured; how often on the verge of destruction! For where was it † when all flesh had corrupted his way upon earth? Where was it, when out of the whole race of man eight persons only were found, (and they not altogether chaste and holy) whom God wished to preserve from the Universal Destruction and Ruin? When Elias the Prophet so bitterly and mournfully complained that he alone was left of all the world who worshipped God in Spirit and in Truth; and when Isaiah declared, § that the silver of God's People, that is, of the Church, was become dross; and that the same City which formerly was faithful was now a harlot; and that in it there was no

"What if some new corruption of the Church; but the whole

* Vincentius Lirinensis says, invades not only some portion universal Church altogether? Then must the true Christian adhere strictly to Antiquity." That is, he must follow the Primitive Church of the ancient Fathers and Apostles.

† Gen. vi. 12. 1 Kings xix. 14.

Isaiah i. 21. 22.

part sound throughout the whole body from the head even to the feet: or when Christ himself said, that the House of God was converted by the Priests and Pharisees into a Den of Thieves.* In truth, the Church is even as a Corn-field which unless manured, ploughed, carefully cultivated, and diligently weeded, instead of wheat produces thistles, darnel, and tares.†

For this cause has God from time to time sent Prophets and Apostles, and finally his Son Jesus Christ, to lead the people into the right path,

* Matt. xxi. 13.

+ St. Jerome, speaking of the corruptions of which he was an eye-witness, says,-Ecclesia, postquam ad Christianos priucipes pervenit, potentia quidem et divitiis major, sed virtutibus minor facta est.-" The Church, after she received the Protection of Christian Princes, increased indeed in wealth and power, but in Virtue and Holiness a manifest decay was visible."

Hieronymus in vita Malachi. On this account, adds St. Chrysostom,-Hæc dico, ne quis miretur Ecclesiam propter multitudinem: sed ut ipsam probatam reddere studeamus." These things I tell you, not that you should admire the Church, on account of the multitude and increase of her members, but that you should strive to adorn her with the ornaments of Virtue."

Chrysostom ad Populum Antioch, Homil. iv. Which implies that we must strive to eradicate all errors, and make her appear like a well-cultivated Corn-field, where no weeds are suffered to appear.

and to re-establish the tottering Fabric of the Church. And lest some one should pretend that these occurrences took place under the Law, when the Church was in obscurity, and a state of infancy—when Truth was enveloped in ceremonies and mysteries, and nothing had yet arrived at perfection-when the Law was not engraven upon the Hearts of Men, but on Tablets of Stone, (although this is but a foolish distinction for in those days there was the same God, the same Spirit, the same Christ, the same Faith, the same Doctrine, the same Hope, the same Inheritance, the same Covenant, the same Powerful Word of God; and as Eusebius * says, all believers from the time of Adam were absolutely Christians, though they were not so denominated)-lest however, I repeat it, any one should make such assertions, the Apostle Paul animadverts upon the same errors and backslidings under the Gospel, when the Light shone brightest, and the doctrines of the Church were most pure and perfect; and found it necessary on this very account to address the Galatians, whom he had before instructed, in the following

* Ecclesi. Histo. lib. i. cap. 4.

words: I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain, and ye have in vain heard the Gospel preached; my little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. It is not here necessary to recapitulate the dreadful pollutions that defiled the Church at Corinth. If however it were possible for the Churches of Galatia and Corinth to err, is the Church of Rome alone to be considered immaculate and infallible? Christ long ago prophesied concerning his Church, declaring that the time would come

* Gal. iv. 11. 19.

+ Nowe (says the Bishop in his defence,) that the Churche of Rome, whiche you cal the Catholique Churche maie erre, and be foresaken of God, it is evident by the plaine wordes of S. Paule, for thus he writeth even unto the Churche of Rome: 17. "If some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in amongst them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree. 18. Boast not against the branches; but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19. Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. 20. Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by Faith. Be not high minded, but fear. 21. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but towards thee, goodness; if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou, (beinge the Churche of Rome) also shalt be cut off." Rom. chap. xi. Hereby it is

when desolation should stand in the Holy Place.* And St. Paul saith, that Antichrist will one day set up his tabernacle in the Church of God; shewing himself that he is † God; and that the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine, but in the very Church will turn away their ears from the Truth, and be turned unto Fables. St. Peter likewise informs us that there should be teachers oflies in the Church of Christ; and the Prophet

plaine, that the Churche of Rome maie faile, and fal from God no lesse, then other like Churches: for otherwise this advertisement of S. Paule had benne in vaine.

The Defence of the Apologie, p. 445. Hormisda, himself a Pope, addresses the Bishops of Spain in the following words: Dilectissimi fratres, continuas preces ad Dominum fundamus, et deprecatione poscamus, ut et institutione, et opere illi, cujus esse membra cupimus, adhæreamus, nec unquam ab illa via, quæ Christus est, devio tramite declinemus: ne ab eo juste, quem impie reliquerimus, deseramur: "My dearly beloved Brethren, let us continually pray unto God that both by our profession and moral conduct, we may cleave to him whose members we desire to be, and that we may never deviate from that straight path, which is CHRIST lest we, (being the Church of Rome) be justly forsaken by him, whom we have impiously forsaken."

Hormisda ad Episcopos Hispaniæ. The Pope would certainly not have expressed himself in these terms, had the Church of Rome been infallible in his eyes!!

* Matt. xxiv. 15.

+ 2 Thess. ii. 4. † 2 Tim. ix. 3, 4.

§ 2 Pet. ii. 1.