15.

"as there are opinions among men, as many "doctrines as inclinations; and as many sources "of blasphemy, as there are faults among "us; because we make creeds arbitrarily, and "explain them as arbitrarily. And as there is "but one faith; so there is but one only God, "one Lord, and one baptism. We renounce "this one faith, when we make so many differ"ent creeds; and that diversity is the reason why we have no true faith among us. We "cannot be ignorant that, since the council of Nice, we have done nothing but make creeds. "And while we fight against words, litigate "about new questions, dispute about equivocal "terms, complain of authors, that every one

st

may make his own party triumph; while we "cannot agree, while we anathematise one an"other, there is hardly one that adheres to "Jesus Christ. What change was there not in "the creed last year! The first council ordained "a silence upon the homousion; the second "established it, and would have us speak; the "third excuses the fathers of the council, and "pretends they took the word ousia simply: "the fourth condemns them, instead of excusing "them. With respect to the likeness of the "Son of God to the Father, which is the faith " of our deplorable times, they dispute whether "he is like in whole, or in part. These are rare "folks to unravel the secrets of heaven. "vertheless it is for these creeds, about invisible mysteries, that we calumniate one another, " and for our belief in God. We make creeds "every year, nay every moon we repent of what "we have done, we defend those that repent, we "anathematise those we defended. So we con"demneither the doctrine of others in ourselves, "or our own in that of others, and, reciprocally tearing one another to pieces, we have been "the cause of each other's ruin."

Ne

bo

HÆRETICI.] centur. Cergo sunt, sed non Scientes, scientes, Denique apud nos sunt hæretici, apud se non sunt. Nam in tantam se catho-. licus esse judicant, ut nos ipsos titulo hæreticæ appellationis infament. Quod ergo illi nobis sunt & hoc eos injuriam divinæ nos illis. Nos generationi facere certi sumus, quod minorem us patre filium dicant. Illi nos injuriosos patri "existimant, quia æquales esse credamus. Veritas apud nos est; sed illi apud se esse præsumunt. Honor Dei apud nos est; sed illi hoc arbitrantur,honorem divinitatis esse quod cre"dunt. Inofficiosi sunt, sed illis hoc est summum religionis officium. Impii sunt, sed hoc pu"tant esse veram pietatem. Errant ergo, sed "bono animo errant, non odio sed affectu Dei, "honorare se dominum atque amare credentes. "Quamvis non habeant rectam fidem, illi ta"men hoc perfectam Dei æstimant caritatem. "Qualiter pro hoc ipso false opinionis errore "in die judicii puniendi sunt, nullus scire potest

nisi judex. Interim idcirco eis, ut reor, pa"tientiam Deus commodat, quia, videt eos, etsi non rectè credere, affectu tamen piæ opinionis 2100 errare. Salvinus. 3.

This bishop speaks here of the Arian Goths and Vandals: "They are, says he, Barbarians, who have no tincture of the Roman politeness, and who are ignorant of what is very comand "monly known among other men, and only "know what their doctors have taught them, "and follow what they have heard them say. "Men so ignorant as these find themselves "under a necessity of learning the mysteries of "the gospel, rather by the instructions that are given them, than by books.'

"The tradition of their doctors and the re"ceived doctrines are the only rule they follow, "because they know nothing but what they "have taught them. They They are then heretics, "but they know it not. They are so in our

ed themselves salics,

H

nom 17.2 « account, but they believe it not; and think good that they treat -ours as heretics, judging of us as we do of them. We are persuaded that they believe amiss conidon th«cerning the divine generation, when they same maintain the Son is inferior to the Father; mom and they imagine that we rob the Father of to 2020 his glory who believe them both to be equal. We have the truth on our side, and they pre-19 tend it is on theirs. We give to God his due god illibee honour, and they think they honour him bet-910 boupeter. They fail in their duty, but they imamagine they perform perfectly well; and they -uqod make true piety to consist in what we call impious. They are in a mistake, but with a great deal of sincerity; and it is so far from being an effect of their hatred, that it is a mark of their love of God, since, by what they mohto do, they imagine they show the greatest re3109 "spect for the Lord, and zeal for his glory. teolog Therefore, though they have not true faith, they nevertheless look upon that which they paly “have as a perfect love of God. It belongs only to the judge of the universe to know how "these men will be punished for their errours ms at the last day. Yet I believe God will show compassion towards them, because he sees "their heart is more right than their belief, and "that, if they are mistaken, it is their piety yle "made them err.

t

*

&.

INDEX

TO THE

ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.

The Volumes are distinguished by the Roman Numerals
I, II, III, preceding the Number of the Page, and
those Figures which follow § refer to the Section.