With this closed the second Public Session.
The first schema, or draft decree, 'On Catholic Faith, and on the errors springing from Rationalism,' containing eighteen chapters, was discussed by thirty-five bishops in the General Congregations between the 18th of December and the 10th of January. It was then sent back to the Commission on Faith to be entirely remodelled. The original schema was one of the grandest of theological documents, cast in the traditional form of conciliar decrees, taking its shape, as they did, from the errors which required condemnation. It was somewhat archaic perhaps in language, but worthy to rank with the decrees of the Councils of Toledo or of Lateran. It was referred to the Commission on Faith, and on the 14th of March it was again distributed to the Council in its new form, wholly recast, and was received with general approbation. The new document is of a distinct character, and ought not to be compared with its predecessor. Instead of eighteen chapters, it contained only an Introduction and four chapters, in which every sentence is full of condensed doctrine, and the whole has a singular beauty and splendour of divine truth impressed upon it. The commission was engaged on the task of recasting the schema until the end of February.
5. In order to show the sustained care and exact-
