shewed,
that to be a Christian, and have a right to the surname of Catholic, one
must receive the Sacred Scriptures, and explain them not according to
the interpretation of private persons, which had often given occasion to
seditions, schisms, and even wars, but according to the sentiments of
the ancient Churches, chiefly to be found in the Creeds, and in the acts
of General Councils.

He was so persuaded of the truth of these principles, that in an
advertisement, prefixed to his _Commentary on the New Testament_, he
declares that if he had written any thing inconsistent with the
interpretation of Holy Scripture by the ancient Church, which he hoped
he had not, he would chuse to have it neglected, and was most ready to
alter it.

FOOTNOTES:

[557] Ep. 28. p. 9.

[558] Ep. 77. p. 54.

[559] Ep. 1108. p. 498. See also Ep. 622. p. 943.

XVIII. This profound veneration for antiquity contributed greatly to
render him more favourable to the Roman Catholics. At a time when it was
looked upon by the Protestants as a kind of Apostacy, to speak with
decency and temper of the sovereign Pontiffs, he ventured to commend
Pope Urbin VIII in some verses made in honour of the blessed Virgin. He
speaks thus of him in a Letter to his brother of the 21st of February,
1625[560]. "I send my father the Poem on the Mother of God. I would not
however have it published, not only because the honour, distinct from
superstition, given to the saints offends several of our people; but
also because Pope Urbin is commended in it. He is an excellent Poet, as
appears from his elegant Pindaric odes. God grant he may be able to
unite Christians, who are too much divided, in one faith."

The Reformers were held by him in no great esteem. In 1633 he wrote to
Gerard Vossius[561], "I think nothing can be truer than your judicious
remark, that the best way to prevent good men from approving of so many
different sects would be to shew them, without animosity or passion,
from the sole motive of love to truth, that those who avail themselves
so much of antiquity have it not always on their side, and that such as
promised to restore the Church to its primitive state have not at all
times succeeded." He no doubt meant the pretended Reformed.

"The Protestants, says he to his brother[562], go too far when they
accuse the Roman Catholics of error; they attack at the same time the
whole Greek and Latin Churches, those of Syria, Arabia, and Egypt, and
ther