Bachon,* Holcot,† Richard Ralph,‡ and Waldensis. In these writers the Primacy of the Pontiff, and the obligation, under pain of sin, to obey his judgments and doctrines, is laid down with a perfect unconsciousness that any Catholic could dispute the Divine certainty of his guidance. The Vatican definition has defined the reason of this implicit faith, by declaring that in the primacy there is a charisma which preserves the supreme doctrinal authority of the Pontiff from error in faith or morals.

But I leave to others to complete this part of the subject. I will go on to the period of the Reformation.

The controversy against the authority of Rome drew out more explicit statements from Sir Thomas More and Cardinal Fisher.

More, writing against Luther, says, "Judge, I pray thee, reader, with what sincerity Father Tippler treats this place of Jerome, when he (Jerome) says it is enough for him if the Pope of Rome approve his faith; that is, openly declaring that it cannot be doubted that he is sound in faith who agrees with that See; than which what could he more splendidly say? Yet Father Tippler, Luther and others so dissemble about this as to try to cloud the reader also with darkness, and to lead away the minds of men elsewhere, that they may not remember anything." I

* Proleg. in Lib. iv. Sentent.

In Lib. iv. Sentent.

Summa in quæstionibus Armenorum, lib. vii. c. 5.

§ Doctrina Fidei, lib. ii. capp. 47, 48.

"Quæso lector judica quam sincere pater Potator hunc locum

gave that He obtained by His prayer made to the Father, that his faith should not fail. Again, to him he gave grace thus to perform, the performance whereof at him He required, to wit, that he confirmed and strengthened his brethren, wherefore the grace of steadfastness of faith, and of confirming the wavering and doubtful in faith, every Pope obtaineth of the Holy Ghost for the benefit of the Church. And so the Pope, although he may err by personal error in his own private judgment as a man, and as a particular doctor in his own opinion, yet as he is Pope, the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ in earth, the shepherd of the Universal Church, in public judgment, in deliberation and definitive sentence, he never erreth, nor never erred. For whensoever he ordaineth or determineth anything by his high bishoply authority, intending to bind Christian men to perform or believe the same, he is always governed and holpen with the grace and favor of the Holy Ghost. This is to Catholic doctors a very certainty, though to such doughty clerks as ye are it is but a matter of nothing and a very trifling tale.”*

⚫ Campian, answering Whitaker, says, "Nor, as you slander us, do we depend on the voice of one man, but rather on the Divine promise of Christ made to Peter and his successors, for the stability of whose faith He prayed to the Father. 'I have prayed for thee, Peter,' He said, 'that thy faith fail not.' The fruit of which prayer, what follows plainly enough shows, belongs not to Peter

* Confutation of a Book entitled " An Apology of the Church of England," by Thomas Harding, D. D., page 335 a. Dedicated to the Queen. Antwerp, 1565.

alone, but to his successors also. .

For since

the Church was not to become extinct with Peter, but to endure unto the end of the world, the same stability in faith was even more necessary to Peter's successors, the Roman Pontiffs, in proportion as they were weaker than he, and were to be assailed with mightier engines by tyrants, heretics, and other impious men. As, therefore, Peter when converted, confirmed the Apostles his brethren, the Pontiffs also must confirm their brethren the rest of the Bishops." Afterwards, he says, “Under his guidance they cannot 'err from the right path of the faith."

These evidences are more than enough to show what was the faith of the Church in England in the sixteenth century, that is, in the controversies of the Reformation. They show what was the faith, for which the Catholics of England at that day stood, and suffered.

In the seventeenth century, we may take Nicholas Sanders as our first witness. He writes in his work "De Clavi David": "But we freely declare, and what in words we declare we prove by fact, that the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, in expounding to the Bishops the faith of Christ, has never erred, nor has either been the author of any heresy, or has lent his authority to any heretic for the promulgation of heresy."+

* Confutatio Responsionis G. Whitakeri, p. 44. Parists 1582. "At vero nos libere dicimus, et quod verbo dicimus re ipsa comprobamus, Petri successorem Episcopum Romanum in exponenda Episcopis fide Christi nunquam errasse, nunquam aut ullius hæresis auctorem fuisse, aut alii hæretico ad promulgandum hæresim suam præbuisse auctoritatem."-Nicolas Sanderus, de Clavi David, lib. v. cap. iv.

Cardinal Fisher also, writing against Luther, says: "One thing I know, that Augustine everywhere makes Peter first and Prince of the Apostles, and Teacher and Head of the rest, in whom also he says the rest are contained, as in the head of any family the multitude (of the family) are all contained."* And further he adds, "Where else dost thou believe the faith to abide, save in the Church of Christ? 'I,' said Christ to Peter, 'have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.' The faith of Peter, do not doubt it, will always abide in the succession of Peter, which is the Church." This is precisely the Vatican definition, "Romanum Pontificem ea infallibilitate pollere, qua divinus Redemptor Ecclesiam suam instructam esse voluit."

Cardinal Pole, after describing the conduct of Peter in the Council at Jerusalem, goes on to say, "The same also the successors of Peter, following his faith, have done in all other Councils; in which

Hieronymi tractet: cum ille dicat, satis esse sibi si suam fidem comprobaret papa Romanus: nimirum aperte significans, non dubitandum esse illum recte sentire de fide, qui, cum illa sede consentiat : quo quid potuisset dicere magnificentius? istud adeo dissimulat pater Potator Lutherus ut etiam tenebras lectori conetur offundere et animos hominum verbis alio, ne quid recordentur, abducere."— Morus, In Lutherum, lib. ii. cap. iv. p. 87. Louvain, 1566.

* "Unum scio, quod Augustinus ubique Petrum facit Primum et Principem Apostolorum ac Magistrum et Caput cæterorum, in quo et cæteros contineri dicit, sicut in capite cujusvis familiæ reliqua comprehenditur multitudo.”—Joannis Roffensis Confutatio Errorum Lutheri, art. xxv. ad finem, in Rocaberti Biblioth. Pontif. tom. xiv. p. 582.

"Ubi credis alibi manere fidem quam in Ecclesia Christi? Ego, inquit Christus ad Petrum, rogavi pro te ut non deficiat fides tua. Petri fides ne dubita semper in successione Petri manebit, quæ est Ecclesia." Id. art. xxvii. ad fin. in Rocaberto, tom. xiv. p. 587.

is found much more signally than in Peter's lifetime, of what kind are the efforts of Satan, who desires to shift the Church of God, and how great is the efficacy of this special remedy in repressing them; namely, that which Christ declared when he turned to Peter, in these words, 'And thou, being once converted, strengthen thy brethren.' For let all remedies be found which at any time the Church has tried against the malice of Satan, who at all times assails it with all kinds of temptations; none certainly will be ever found to be compared with this, which is wont to be used in General Councils; namely, that all the Bishops of all the Churches, as the brethren of Peter, be confirmed by his successors, professors of the same faith."

In like manner, Harding, Jewel's antagonist, writes: "The Pope succeedeth Peter in authority and power. For whereas the sheep of Christ continue to the world's end, he is not wise that thinketh Christ to have made a shepherd temporary or for a time over His perpetual flock. To Peter He

* "Idem etiam Petri successores, fidem ejus secuti, fecere in reliquis omnibus conciliis, in quibus multo illustrius quam vivo Petro compertum est, et cujusmodi esset Satanæ conatus Ecclesiam Dei cribrare expetentis, et quanta ad eos reprimendos extiterit vis hujus singularis remedii, quod Christus ad Petrum sermonem convertens verbis illis indicavit: Et tu aliquando conversus confirma fratres tuos. Ut enim omnia remedia quærantur quæ ullo tempore Ecclesia est experta contra Satanæ malitiam nunquam non omni tentationis genere eam aggredientis: nullum certe reperietur quod cum hac comparari possit, quod in conciliis generalibus adhiberi est solitum, ut singuli singularum Ecclesiarum episcopi, tanquam Petri fratres, confirmarentur per ejus successores eandem fidem profitentes."Card. Polus, De Summo Pontifice, cap. iv. (Rocaberti, Biblioth. Pontif. tom. xviii. p. 146.)