EBIONITÆ.] “phets direct you? since it is written in the V. 3. “ law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; 10. " and there are many of thy brethren, children

" of Abraham, who are almost naked, and who “ are ready to die with hunger, while thy house “ is full of good things, and yet thou givest “ them no help nor assistance. And turning “ himself towards Simon, his disciple, who sat “ near him; Simon, son of Johanna, said he, “ it is easier for a camel to go through the eye “ of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into " the kingdom of heaven.” Ebion changed this passage, because he did not believe Jesus Christ to be the son of God, nor a law-giver, but a mere interpreter of the law of Moses. Grotius 333

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HÆRETICI.] “ Nostrum igitur fuit, eligere & optare 12. “ meliora, ut ad vestram correctionem auditum

“ haberemus, non in contentione & æmulatione “ & persecutionibus, sed mansuetè consolando, “ benevolè hortando, lenitur disputando, sicut “ scriptum est, servum autem Domini non opor“ tet litigare, sed mitem esse ad omnes, docibi“ lem, patientem, in modestia corripientem di

versa sentientes. Nostrum ergo fuit velle has

partes expetere; Dei est volentibus & peten« tibus donare quod bonum est. Illi in vos “ sæviant qui nesciunt cum quo labore verum “ inveniatur, & quam difficile caveantur errores. “ Illi in vos sæviant, qui nesciunt quam rarum “ & arduum sit carnalia phantasmata piæ mentis « serenitate superare.

Īlle in vos sæviánt, qui 'os nesciunt cum quantâ difficultate sanetur oculus “ interioris hominis, ut possit intueri solem

suum ;-Illi in vos sæviant, qui nesciunt quibus suspiriis & gemitibus fiat, ut ex quan

tulacunque parte possit intelligi Deus. Pos“ tremo, illi in vos sæviant, qui nullo tali errore

decepti sunt, quali vos deceptos vident. In “ catholicâ enim ecclesiâ, ut omittam sincerissi“ mam sapientiam, ad cujus cognitionem pauci

spirituales in hâc vitâ perveniunt, ut eam ex “ minimâ quidem parte, qui homines sunt, sed “ tamen sine dubitatione, cognoscant: cæterum

quippe turbam non intelligendi vivacitas, sed « credendi simplicitas tutissimam facit.” Augustinus, Tom. vi. col. 116. fol. Basiliæ 1542, contra Epist. Manichæi, quam vocant fundamenti.

“ We were of opinion, that other methods were to be made choice of, and that, to recover you

from

your errours, we ought not to “ persecute you with injuries and invectives, or

any ill treatment, but endeavour to procure

your attention by soft words and exhorta“ tions, which would shew the tenderness we “ have for you: according to that passage of

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13. “ holy writ, “ the servant of the Lord ought

“ not to love strife and quarrels, but to be gen“ tle, affable, and patient towards all mankind, “ and to reprove with modesty those who differ “ from him in opinion.”—“Let them only treat

you with rigour, who know not how difficult “ it is to find out the truth, and avoid errour. “ Let those treat you with rigour, who are igno“ rant how rare and painful a work it is calmly

to dissipate the carnal phantoms, that disturb " even a pious mind. Let those treat you with

rigour, who are ignorant of the extreme diffi

culty that there is to purify the eye of the in6 ward man, to render him capable of seeing “ the truth, which is the sun, or light of the “ soul. Let those treat you with rigour, who “ have never felt the sighs and groans that a soul “ must have before it can attain any knowledge " of the divine Being. To conclude, let those “ treat you with rigour who never have been 6 seduced into errours, near a-kin to those you “ are engaged in. I pass over in silence that

pure wisdom, which but a few spiritual men “ attain to in this life; so that though they “ know but in part, because they are men; yet “ nevertheless they know what they do know “ with certainty : for, in the catholic church, it “ is not penetration of mind, nor profound know

ledge, but simplicity of faith, which puts men “ in a state of safety.

“ Barbari quippe homines Romanæ, imo po“ tius humanæ eruditionis expertes, qui nihil « omnino sciunt, nisi quod à doctoribus suis “ audiunt : quod audiunt hoc sequuntur, ac sic

necesse est eos qui totius literaturæ ac scientiæ ignari, sacramentum divinæ legis doctrina, magis quam lectione, cognoscunt, doctrinam

potius retinere, quam legem. Itaque eis tra“ ditio magistrorum suorum & doctrina invete“ rata, quasi lex est, qui hoc' sciunt, quod do

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CONFESSIO FIDEI.] « Periculosum nobis admodum 14. “ atque etiam miserabile est, tot nunc fides ex

“ istere, quot voluntates : & tot nobis doctrinas

esse, quot mores: & tot causas blasphemia« rum pullulare, quot vitia sunt: dum aut ita “ fides scribuntur, ut volumus, aut, ita ut volu

mus, intelliguntur. Et cum secundum unum « Deum & unum Dominum, & unum baptisma, 6 etiam fides una sit, excidimus ab eâ fide, quæ “ sola est : & dum plures fiant, id esse coepe

runt, ne ulla sit; conscii enim nobis invicem

sumus, post Nicæni conventûs synodum, nihil " aliud quam fidem scribi. Dum in verbis

pugna est, dum de novitatibus quæstio est, “ dum de ambiguis occasio est, dum de autori« bus querela est, dum de studiis certamen est, “ dum in consensu difficultas est, dum alter alteri “ anathema esse cæpit, prope jam nemo est “ Christi, &c. Jam vero proximi anni fides, “ quid jam de immutatione in se habet ? Pri

mum, quæ homousion decernit taceri : sequens “ rursum, quæ houmousion decernit & prædicat. “ Tertium deinceps, quæ ousiam simpliciter à “ patribus præsumptam, per indulgentiam ex

cusat. Postremum quartum, quæ non excu“ sat, sed condemnat, &c. De similitudine au“ tem filii Dei ad Deum patrem, quod misera“ bilis nostri temporis est fides, ne non ex toto, “ sed tantum ex portione sit similis ? Egregii 66 scilicet arbitri coelestium sacramentorum con

quisitores, invisibilium mysteriorum profes“ sionibus de fide Dei calumniamur, annuas

atque menstruas de Deo fides decernimus, “ decretis pænitemus, poenitentes defendimus, “ defensos anathematizamus, aut in nostri ali« ena aut in alienis nostra damnamus, & mor“ dentes invicem, jam absumpti sumus invicem.” Hilarius, p. 211, in lib. ad Constantium Augustum. Basil. 1550, fol.

• It is a thing equally deplorable and dangerous that there are at present as many creeds

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