36 INTItODUCTION. [Boez I Hence the celebrated act ?of faith: "0 my God ! I fL,'mly believe the sacred truths which thy holy Catholic Church believes and teaches, because thou hast revealed them, who neither canst deceive nor be deceived." X. ANCIENT FATHERS. � The authority of these extends to the interpretat/on of Scripture, which is to be interpreted accoriling to their u?m/mm? con.?ent; em- bracing a great variety of wr/ters for more than seven hundred years after Christ. According to the determination of all parties, much de- ference is to be paid to the fathers; yet they were uninspired men, and, therefore, liable to error. On many pr/ncipal and important matters. they maintained very little agreement among themselves. Great un- certainty must therefore arise, when their unm?/?.? consent is claimed. Bnt the uncertainty here is heightened, when we consider that Roman Catholics have corrupted the writin? of the fathers. They have made out a list of passages which are to be expnnged as erroneous, wh/ch they calt the Indez EEvur?'atodu.?. They prohibit the publication of these passages; and when they get genuine copies of the fathers, they correct them according to the index; as they have done to Jerome's works, published by Erasmus, in the library of Trinity College, Dubl/n. They even call Erasmus, au�tor d?m?u.?, a droned m?t]?', for p?b- lishing the genuine ?vorks of Jerome. ,XI. ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS. 1. It is difficult to say What author/ty is to be ascribed to these; in* asmuch as they themselves are not agreed as tO the peculiar rank in wh/ch they are to be placed. But as we have abundance of sources on which to draw, we will leave these in that contested department where they are sometimes placed by their friends; calling forth, how- ever, their sayings when we shall find it convenient. 2. It is, however, an evasive statement for Romanists to say', that such or such opinions are nothing more than the private sentiments of divines. For though, in matters of faith, the sentiments of their' theo- logians merely would not be sufficient to ascribe a doctrine to a whole church; yet in a matter of practice, as far as that practice extends, it is enough to allege the sayin .gs of their theologians and official inter- preters; therefore, these sayings are their rule of life. And because their rules of conscience are not decreed by councils, but by' their casuists, it is to the latter we must look principally for their sentiments on this matter. We do not say this is an article of faith; it is only a rule of conduct. It is not ordained by a public decree, nor is it con- demned by any council. Their casuists determine all cases, with severity or i.ndulgence, so as to suit the wicked and the righteous. 3. And even in doctrines too, if the expositions and defences of their best and most approved divines, historians, and bishops, and clergy. may not be entitled to some consideration as their acknowledged and official teachers, what will the consequence be ? Assuredly this, that her best expositors are entitled to no credit; which alone is sufficient to overturn their system. For if their wisest and best men cannot be trusted as adequate interpreters and expounders of their own principles, then the system itself must be inexplicable, absurd, and indefensible. 4. It is true there are several classes of divines among them. Some I ,Goocle
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