great a strength and confidence?" But what need I fly to the testimonies of single authors, especially moderns? We find this argument expressly made use of by the Council of Orange, purposely called against the heresy of Pelagius reviving in France". The words of the holy Fathers, assembled in that Council, are these; "The nature of man, if it had remained in that integrity wherein it was created, could by no means have saved itself without the assistance of its Creator. Wherefore seeing, without the grace of God, it could not keep the salvation which it had received, how can it possibly without the grace of God recover that which it hath lost?"

Lastly, You may from that large account which I have given you of the sense of antiquity, as to the last hypothesis, most certainly assure yourself how unjust a charge that is, which some bold men have fastened on all the Christian writers before Pelagius, especially on those that flourished within the first three centuries; namely, that they held the same doctrine, which was afterwards condemned by the Church as heretical in Pelagius; exalting the Tò avтežovotov into the throne of the Divine Spirit, and asserting a sufficiency of man's natural powers in his lapsed estate, without the grace of God, to perform those things which conduce unto eternal life. For you may now evidently discern, that those excellent persons were so far from this persuasion, that they believed an absolute necessity of a divine and supernatural principle, even in man entire, to raise and elevate his natural powers unto the attainment of so high an end. And this notion you no where find more clearly delivered, than it is by the writers of the first three hundred years. Many learned men have, with a laudable zeal, stood up in vindication of the holy Fathers and Martyrs from this foul calumny, and have

↑ Si homo uxiòs, ne in integra quidem natura, supernaturalem finem per se erat assecturus; qua fronte tantum roboris, aut fiduciæ, sibi arroget corruptus?

u Concil. Arausican. c. 19. inter Opera August. tom. vii. p. 614. edit. Paris. 1635.

* Natura humana, etiamsi in illa integritate, in qua est condita, permaneret, nullo modo seipsam, creatore suo non adjuvante, servaret. Unde cum sine

gratia Dei salutem non possit custodire, quam accepit, quomodo sine Dei gratia poterit reparare, quod perdidit?

Among the rest, our countryman Mr. Baxter tells us, "Yet the truth is, most, if not all the Fathers of the first two hundred or three hundred years do speak in a language seeming to lean strongly that way.-But the plain truth is, till Pelagius's days, all spoke like Pelagians." Saints' Rest, part i. p. 151.

more than sufficiently done it, by amassing many testimonies out of their writings, wherein they expressly acknowledge an absolute necessity of the Divine grace, and the operation of the Holy Spirit in lapsed man, in order to his eternal salvation. But none of them (that I have yet met with) hath made use of this notion, which yet runs (as it were) in a continued vein through the writings of all the primitive Fathers, and strikes (as we but now observed) at the very heart of the Pelagian heresy.

Thus I have returned a very large answer to the enquiry, concerning the covenant of life made with man in the state of integrity, much larger, I believe, than was expected, and, I am sure, than I at first intended. For I have scarce, I think, omitted any thing which might be said of that covenant with any certainty, either from the express dictates of the sacred oracles, or from the consent of the Catholic Church, the best guide we can follow in those cases wherein the Holy Scriptures speak less plainly.

VINDICATION

OF THE

CHURCH OF ENGLAND,

FROM THE

ERRORS AND CORRUPTIONS

OF

THE CHURCH OF ROME.

WHEREIN, AS IS LARGELY PROVED,

THE RULE OF FAITH, AND ALL THE FUNDAMENTAL ARTICLES OF THE
CHRISTIAN Religion, are received, TAUGHT, PROFESSED,
AND ACKNOWLEDGED.

BY DR. GEORGE BULL,

LATE LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID's.

WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF THE COUNTESS OF NEWBRUGH, IN ANSWER TO A CELEBRATED ROMAN CATHOLIC TREATISE, ENTITLED,

"The Catholic Scripturist."

PUBLISHED FROM HIS LORDSHIP'S MANUSCRIPT BY HIS SON, ROBERT BULL, RECTOR OF TORTWORTH, AND PREBENDARY OF GLOUCESTER.

B