ideo prædestinati non sunt; quia tales futuri ex voluntaria prævaricatione præsciti sunt" (36).

70. From all we have already written on the subject, we see how confused are all heretics, but especially the pretended Reformers, with the dogmas of Faith. They are all united in opposing the dogmas taught by the Catholic Church, but they afterwards contradict each other in a thousand points of belief among themselves, and it is difficult to find one who believes the same as another. They say that they are only seeking for and following the truth; but how can they find the truth, if they cast away the rule of truth? The truths of the Faith were not manifested of themselves to all men, so that if every one was bound to believe that which pleased his own judgment best, there would be no end to disputes. Hence, our Lord, to remove all confusion regarding the dogmas of Faith, has given us an infallible judge to put an end to all disputes, and as there is but one God, so there is but one Faith: "One faith, one baptisin, one God" (Ephes. iv. 5).

71. Who, then, is this judge who puts an end to all controver sies regarding Faith, and tells us what we are to believe? It is the Church established by God, as the pillar and the ground of truth: "That thou mayest know how thou ought to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth." The voice of the Church, then, it is which teaches the truth, and distinguishes the Catholic from the heretic, as our Lord says, speaking of him who contemns the correction of his pastor: "If he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican" (Matt. xviii. 17). Perhaps, however, some will say: Among the many churches in the world, which is the true one-which is it we are to believe? I briefly answer-having treated the subject at length in my Work on the Truth of the Faith, and also in the Dogmatic part of this Work-that the only true Church is the Roman Catholic, for this is the first founded by Jesus Christ. It is certain that our Redeemer founded the Church in which the faithful may find salvation; he it was who taught us what we should believe and practise to obtain eternal life. After his death, he committed to the Apostles, and their successors, the government of his Church, promising to assist them, and to be with them all time, "even to the consummation of the world" (Matt. xxviii. 20). He also promised that the gates of hell should never prevail against it: "Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. xvi. 18). Now, every heresiarch, in founding his Church, separated himself from this first Church founded by Jesus Christ; and if this was the true Church of our Saviour, all the others are, necessarily, false and heretical. 72. It will not do to say, as the Donatists did of old, and the Protestants in later times, that they have separated themselves from (36) St. Prosper, Res. 3 ad Capit. Gallor

the Church, because although in the beginning it was the true one, still, through the fault of those who governed it, the doctrine preached by Jesus Christ became corrupted, for he, as we have seen, has promised that the gates of hell should never prevail against the Church he founded. Neither will it avail them to say that it was only the visible, and not the invisible Church that failed, on account of the wickedness of the shepherds, for it is necessary that there should always be a visible and infallible judge, in the Church, to decide all doubts, that disputes may be quashed, and the dogmas of Faith be secure and certain. I wish every Protestant would consider this, and see how he can be certain then, of his salvation outside the Holy Catholic Church.

SEC. VIII.-THE AUTHORITY OF GENERAL COUNCILS.

73. THERE can be only one Faith, for as Faith and truth are indivisibly united, and as truth is one, so Faith must be one likewise. Hence, we conclude, as we have already shown, that in all controversies regarding the dogmas of Faith, it has always been, and is always necessary to have, an infallible judge, whose decisions all should obey. The reason of this is manifest, for if the judgment of every one of the faithful was to be taken on this matter, as the sectaries expect, it would not be alone opposed to the Scriptures, as we shall see, but to reason itself, for it would be quite impossible to unite the opinions of all the faithful, and give from them a distinct and definitive judgment in dogmas of Faith, and there would be endless disputes, and, instead of unity of Faith, there would be as many creeds as persons. Neither is the Scripture alone sufficient to assure us of the truth of what we should believe, for several passages of it can be interpreted in different senses, both true and false, so that the Bible will be, for those who take it in a perverse sense, not a rule of Faith, but a fountain of errors; the Gospel, as St. Jerome says, will become, not the Gospel of Christ, but the Gospel of man, or of the devil: "Non putemus in verbis Scripturarum esse Evangelium sed in sensu, interpretatione enim perversa de Evangelio Christi fit hominis Evangelium aut diaboli." Where, in fact, can we look for the true sense of the Scriptures, only in the judgment of the Church, the pillar and the ground of truth, as the Apostle calls it?

74. That the Roman Catholic Church is the only true one, and that the others who have separated from it are false, is manifest from what we have already seen; for, as the sectaries themselves admit, the Roman Catholic Church has been certainly first founded by Jesus Christ. He promised to assist it to the end of time, and the gates of hell, that is, as St. Epiphanius explains it, heretics and founders of heresies, will never prevail against it, as was promised to St. Peter. Hence, in all doubts of Faith, we should bow to the decisions of this Church, subjecting our judgment to her judgment,

in obedience to Christ, who, as St. Paul tells us, commands us to obey the Church: "Bring into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. x. 5).

75. The Church, then, teaches us through General Councils, and hence, the perpetual tradition of all the faithful has always held as infallible the definitions of General Councils, and considered as heretics those who refused obedience to them. Such have been the Lutherans and Calvinists, who have denied the infallibility of General Councils. Here are Luther's own words, taken from the thirtieth article of the forty-one condemned by Leo X. (1): "Via nobis facta est enervandi auctoritatem Conciliorum, et judicandi eorum Decreta, et confidenter confitendi quidquid verum videtur, sive prolatum fuerit, sive reprobatum a quocunque Concilio." Calvin said the same thing, and the followers of both heresiarchs have adopted their opinion. We know, especially, that Calvin and Beza both said, that no matter how holy a Council might be, still it may err in matters appertaining to Faith (2). The Faculty of Paris, however, censuring the thirtieth article of Luther, declared the contrary: "Certum est, Concilium Generale legitime congregatum in Fidei et morum determinationibus errare non posse." How, in fact, can we deny infallibility to General Councils, when we know that they represent the whole Church? for, if they could err in matters of Faith, the whole Church could err, and the infidels might say, then, that God had not provided sufficiently for the unity of Faith, as he was bound to do, when he wished that all should profess the same Faith,

76. Hence, we are bound to believe, that in matters relating to the dogmas of Faith, and to moral precepts, General Councils cannot err, and this is proved, in the first place, from Scripture. Christ says: "Where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. xviii. 20). But then, says Calvin, according to that a Council of two persons assembled in the name of God cannot err. The Council of Chalcedon, however (Act 3, in fine), in the Epistle to Pope St. Leo, and the Sixth Synod (Act 17), had previously disposed of this objection, by explaining that the words, " in my name," show that this cannot be applied to a meeting of private persons assembled to discuss matters regarding their own private interests, but a meeting of persons congregated to decide on points regarding the whole society of Christendom. It is proved, secondly, by the words of St. John: "When he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will teach you all truth" (John, xvi. 13). And previously, in the 14th chap. 16th verse, he says: "I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever: the Spirit of Truth." Now the expression, " that he may abide with you for

(1) Luther, lib. de Concil. ar. 28, 29. (2) Joan Vysembogard. Ep. ad Lud. Colin.

ever," clearly shows that the Holy Ghost continually abides in the Church, to teach the truths of the Faith, not alone to the Apostles, who, being mortal, could not remain always with us, but to the bishops, their successors. Unless, then, in this congregation of bishops, we do not know where the Holy Ghost teaches these truths.

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77. It is proved, also, from the promises made by our Saviour always to assist his Church, that it may not err: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Matt. xxviii. 20); " And I say to thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. xvi. 18). A General Council, as has been said already, and as the eighth Synod (Act 5) declared, represents the universal Church; and, hence, this interrogatory was put to all suspected of heresy in the Council of Constance: "An non credunt Concilium Generale universam Ecclesiam repræsentare?" And St. Athanasius, St. Epiphanius, St. Cyprian, St. Augustin, and St. Gregory, teach the same thing (3). If, therefore, the Church, as it has been proved, cannot err, neither can the Council which represents the Church fall into error. It is proved, besides, from those texts, in which the faithful are commanded to obey the prelates of the Church: "Obey your prelates, and be subject to them" (Heb. xiii. 17); "Who hears you, hears me" (Luke, x. 16); "Go, therefore, teach all nations" (Matt. xxviii. 19). These prelates, separately, may fall into error, and frequently disagree with each other on controverted points, and, therefore, we should receive what they tell us as infallible, and as coming from Christ himself, when they are united in Council. On this account the Holy Fathers have always considered as heretics those who contradicted the dogmas defined by General Councils, as the reader may see, by consulting St. Gregory of Nazianzen, St. Basil, St. Cyril, St. Ambrose, St. Athanasius, St. Augustin, and St. Leo(4).

78. Besides all these proofs, there is another, that if General Councils could err, there would be no established tribunal in the Church, to terminate disputes about points of dogma, and to preserve the unity of the Faith, and if they were not infallible in their judgments, no heresy could be condemned, nor could we say it was a heresy at all. We could not be certain either of the canonicity of several books of the Scripture, as the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews, the Second Epistle of St. Peter, the Third Epistle of St. John, the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude, and the Apocalypse of St. John; for, although the Calvinists receive all these, still they

(3) St. Athanas. Ep. de Synod. Arim. St. Epiphan. An. at. in fin.; St. Cyprian. l. 4, Ep. 9; St. Augus. . 1 contra at. c. 18, St. Greg. Ep. 24 ad Patriarch. Nazian. Ep. ad Cledon.; St. Basil, Ep. 78; St. Cyril. de Trinit.; St. St. Athan. Ep. ad Episc. Afric.; St. Aug. . 1, de Bapt. c. 18; St. Anatol.

(4) St. Greg. Ambr. Ep. 32; Leo, Ep. 77, ad

are considered doubtful by others, because they were not declared canonical by the Fourth Council. Finally, we may add, that if Councils could err, they committed an intolerable error in propos ing, as Articles of Faith, matters, which they could not assert were true or false; and thus the Creeds of Nice, of Constantinople, of Ephesus, and of Chalcedon, would fall to the ground, in which several dogmas were declared, which before were not held as such, and still these four General Councils are received as Rules of Faith by the Innovators themselves. We have now to consider their numerous and importunate objections.

79. First, Calvin objects (5) several passages of the Scriptures, in which the prophets, priests, and pastors, are called ignorant and liars: "From the prophet to the priest, all deal deceitfully" (Jer. viii. 10); "His watchmen are all blind. ...the shepherds themselves know no understanding" (Isaias, lvi. 10, 11). We answer, that frequently in the Scriptures, because some are wicked, all are reprimanded, as St. Augustin (6) says, explaining that passage (Phil. ii. 21): "All seek the things that are their own, and not the things that are Jesus Christ's." But the Apostles surely did not seek the things which were their own; they sought solely the glory of God, and, therefore, St. Paul calls on the Philippians, and tells them: "Be followers of me, brethren, and observe them who walk, so as you have our model" (Phil. iii. 17). We should, besides, remember that the texts quoted speak of priests and prophets divided among themselves, and deceiving the people, and not of those who speak to us, assembled in the name of God. Besides, the Church of the New Testament has received surer promises than did the Synagogue of old, which was never called "The Church of the living God, the pillar and the firmament of truth" (1 Tim. iii. 15). Calvin, however, says (7), that even in the New Law there are many false prophets and deceivers, as St. Matthew (xxiv. 11) tells us: "Many false prophets shall arise, and seduce many." This is also true; but he ought to apply this text to himself, and Luther, and Zuinglius, and not to the Ecumenical Councils of bishops, to whom the assistance of the Holy Ghost is promised, and who can say: "It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us" (Acts, xv. 28).

80. Calvin objects, secondly, the iniquity of the Council of Caiphas, which, withal, was a General one, composed of the Princes and Priests, and still condemned Jesus Christ as guilty of death (Matt. xxvi. 66). Therefore, he says, even General Councils are fallible. We reply, that we call infallible those legitimate General Councils alone, at which the Holy Ghost assists; but how can we call that council either legitimate, or assisted by the Holy Ghost,

(5) Calv. Inst. l. 4, c. 9, sec. 3. (6) St. Aug. de Unit. Eccl. c. 11. (7) Calvin, loc. cit. sec. 4.