title of Pius II.; and he, in a work written before he was Pope, had spoken as follows, as Leslie quotes him: "It is the opinion of all that are dead, if that can be called a mere opinion which is fortified with sufficient authorities, that the Pope of Rome is subject to the universal Church; neither dare those who now live deny it. But it is made a doubt among some whether he be subject to a general council; for there are some, whether out of singularity, or that they expect the rewards of their flattery, have begun to spread new and strange doctrines, and are not afraid to exempt the Pope from the jurisdiction of the Holy Council; for ambition has blinded them; from whence not only this modern, but all schisms to this day have arisen. . . . These poor men do not consider that these things they say are but the words either of Popes who would extend their power, or of their flatterers; and because such sayings are easily answered, they straight run to the Gospel, and interpret the words of Christ, not according to the meaning of the Holy Ghost, but by their private judgment. And they make much of that which was said to Peter, Thou shalt be called Cephas;' by which they make him head of the Church ;" and, 'I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven;' and, 'Whatsoever thou bindest upon earth;' and, I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not; and, Feed My sheep;' and,' Launch out into the deep;' and, Fear not, thou shalt henceforth catch men;' and that Christ commanded Peter alone,

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as Prince of the Apostles, to pay tribute for himself and for Him; and because Peter drew the net to shore full of great fishes; and that Peter alone drew his sword in defence of Christ. All which things these men after a strange manner do refine upon, wholly neglecting the expositions of the Holy Doctors1."

1 Leslie, Ibid. The original runs thus: "Opinio, sicut jam liquet, omnium mortuorum est, si opinio vocari debet quæ idoneis confirmatur authoribus, quia Romanus pontifex universali ecclesiæ subjectus existit; neque hoc viventes negare audent: illud autem apud aliquos revocatur in dubium, an id quoque de generali concilio credi oporteat. Sunt enim aliqui, sive avidi gloriæ sive quod adulando præmia expectant, qui peregrinas quasdam et omnino novas prædicare doctrinas cœperunt, ipsumque summum pontificem ex jurisdictione sacri concilii demere non verentur. Excæcavit namque illos ambitio, à quâ non solum hoc modernum sed omnium usque in hanc diem schismata suborta reperiuntur. Namque ut olim pestiferam illam bestiam, quæ per Arrium primo quasi de infernis extulerat caput, cupiditas episcopatûs induxit, sic hodiernam hæresin illi præcipue nutriunt, quos jam mendicare suppudet, quorum alius clamat, subditorum facta judicari a papâ, Romanum vero pontificem solius Dei reservari arbitrio. Alius dicit, quia primam sedem nemo judicabit, quod neque ab Augusto, neque ab omni clero, neque a regibus, neque a populo valeat judicari. Alius asserit ejectionem summorum Pontificum sibi Dominum reservasse. Alius vero asserere non veretur, Romanum Pontificem, quamvis animas catervatim secum ad inferos trahat, nullius reprehensioni fore subjectum. Nec considerant miseri, quia quæ prædicant tantopere verba, aut ipsorum summorum pontificum sunt suas fimbrias extendentium, aut illorum qui eis adulabantur. Et quia hujusmodi dicta solutionem habent, recurrent statim ad evangelium, et verba Christi non procul Spiritus Sancti sensus exposcit, sed suopte ingenio interpretantur. Plurimumque illud extollunt, quia Petro sit dictum, ‘Tu voca

Enough has now been said in illustration of errors arising from the exercise of Private Judg

beris Cephas,' per quod illum caput ecclesiæ faciunt: 'Tibidabo claves regni cœlorum,' et 'Quodcunque ligaveris' &c. &c. . . . . Quæ omnia hi homines miro modo sublimant, expositionibus sanctorum doctorum omnino posthabitis; quos si, ut par esset, considerarent, manifeste cognoscerent, quia ex auctoritatibus supradictis Romanus Pontifex non conjunctim, sed separatim omnibus præest." En. Sylv. de Gest. Bas. Concil. i. p. 772, Ed. Paris, 1666. After Æneas Sylvius became Pope he retracted his former doctrine in a letter addressed to the university of Cologne. It runs as follows: "In minoribus agentes, non sacris ordinibus initiati, cum Basileæ inter eos versaremur, qui se generaleconcilium et universalem Ecclesiam repræsentare aiebant, dialogorum quendam libellum ad vos scripsimus, in quo de auctoritate concilii generalis, ac de gestis Basiliensium et Eugenii Papæ contradictione, ea probavimus vel damnavimus, quæ probanda vel damnanda censuimus. . . sed quis non errat mortalis ? . . 'Omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt, non est qui faciat bonum non est usque ad unum' &c. . ... Nos homines sumus, et ut homines erravimus; neque imus inficias, multa quæ diximus, scripsimus, egimus, damnari posse; verum non ut Arrius, Eutyches, Macedonius, aut Nestorius, &c. . . . Cogimur igitur, dilecti filii, beatum Augustinum imitari, qui cum aliqua in suis voluminibus erronea inseruisset, retractiones edidit." Then after unsaying the passage above quoted and quoting the texts in the sense it condemns, he continues, "Si quid adversus hanc doctrinam inveneritis aut in dialogis aut in epistolis nostris (multa enim scripsimus adhuc juvenes) respuite atque contemnite; sequimini quæ nunc dicimus, et seni magis quam juveni credite, nec privatum hominem pluris facite quam Pontificem. Æneam rejicite, Pium recipite; illud gentile nomen parentes indidere nascenti; hoc Christianum in Apostolatu suscepimus." He then answers the objection that he had changed his mind on his pro

ment on the text of Scripture. The practical conclusion is obvious. Let those whom it concerns be cautious how they countenance a procedure which has led, not only to Arianism, but to tenets which Protestants of every denomination will agree in condemning,-Purgatory and the Pope's Supremacy 1.

motion. "Haud ita est, longe aliter actum. Audite, filii, conversationem nostram, brevis narratio erit, &c. Eramus adhuc pæne laici, quando ad Eugenii obedientiam redivimus. Ex Basileâ clericali tantum charactere insigniti recessimus," &c. Ibid. pp. 841, &c. However he was an active partizan of the rights of the Council for a whole ten years, and did not pass over to the Pope till he was 40. He was raised to the Papacy about thirteen years after.

'The following passage from Sarpi's account of the proceedings at Trent is in point: "The major part of the divines said that the doctrine of the Church of Rome. . . . is in great part founded by the Pope and School divines, upon some passage in Scripture, which if every one had liberty to examine whether

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....

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it was well translated. . . . these new grammarians would confound all, and would be made judges and arbiters of faith," lib. 2. p. 146.

LECTURE VIII.

THE INDEFECTIBILITY OF THE CHURCH CATHOLIC.

LET us now return to the subject of Church Authority, from which the discussion of Private Judgment has diverted us. As I have already implied', Private Judgment and Church Authority, in matters of faith, do not, in principle, interfere with each other. The Church enforces, on her own responsibility, what is an historical fact, and ascertainable as other facts, and obvious to the intelligence of inquirers, as other facts; viz., the doctrine of the Apostles; and Private Judgment has as little exercise here as in any matters of sense or experience. It may as well claim a right of denying that the Apostles existed, or that the Bible exists, as that that doctrine existed and exists. We are not free to sit at home and speculate about every thing; there are things which we look at, or ask

1 Lecture V.