ainst our whole creed died with its day, and there
continued alone our discipline, sovereign among all, and
acknowledged to be pre-eminent in awfulness and sobriety, in its
divine and philosophical doctrines; so that no one of this day
dares to cast any base reproach upon our faith, nor any such
calumny such as it was once customary for our enemies to
use."--_Hist._ iv. 7.

Or to take a passage on a different subject, which almost comes first to
hand, from St. Cyril, another of this school of divines:--

"Only be of good cheer, only work, only strive cheerfully; for
nothing is lost. Every prayer of thine, every psalm thou singest is
recorded; every alms-deed, every fast is recorded; every marriage
duly observed is recorded; continence kept for God's sake is
recorded; but the first crowns in record are those of virginity and
purity; and thou shalt shine as an Angel. But as thou hast gladly
listened to the good things, listen without shrinking to the
contrary. Every covetous deed of thine is recorded; every fleshly
deed, every perjury, every blasphemy, every sorcery, every theft,
every murder. All these things are henceforth recorded, if thou do
these after baptism; for thy former deeds are blotted out."--_Cat._
xv. 23.

Cyril and Eusebius, I conceive, do not serve at all better than Origen
to show that faith is a feeling, that it makes a man independent of the
Church, and is efficacious apart from baptism or works. I do not know
any ancient divines of whom more can be made.

4.

Where, then, is primitive Protestantism to be found? There is one chance
for it, not in the second and third centuries, but in the fourth; I mean
in the history of Aerius, Jovinian, and Vigilantius,--men who may be
called, by some sort of analogy, the Luther, Calvin, and Zwingle, of the
fourth century. And they have been so considered both by Protestants and
by their opponents, so covetous, after all, of precedent are innovators,
so prepared are Catholics to believe that there is nothing new under the
sun. Let me, then, briefly state the history and tenets of these three
religionists.

1. Aerius was an intimate friend of Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, in
Armenia, whose name has already occurred above. Both had embraced a
monastic life; and both were Arians in creed. Eustathius, being raised
to the episcopate, ordained his friend presbyter, and set h