decreto Concilii Tredentimi, ad parochos, Pii V. Pontificis Maximi, editus." It is recommended by the erudition, exactness, and conciseness, with which it is written; and by the neatness and elegance of its style. It is, perhaps, the best work which a person, who seeks to obtain a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the Roman Catholic creed, can peruse.

II. 4.

Bossuet's Exposition of the Faith of the Catholic Church, in matters of Controversy.

The unqualified approbation, which this work has received from the universal body of the Roman-Catholic Church, gives it a place among, or at least, very near to, her Symbolic books.

In his controversies with Protestants, Bossuet thought he observed, that the chief obstacle to their conversion to the RomanCatholic religion, arose from their mistaken notions of her doctrines it therefore appeared to him, that he might greatly facilitate their conversion, by composing a full, but concise, exposition of the Roman-Catholic faith.

It was a work of long and profound meditation. When finished, he caused twelve copies of it to be printed, and circulated them among the prelates and theologians, by whose opinion and advice he considered it most likely he should be benefited. They returned the copies to him with their written remarks. These he weighed with great attention, and finally, in December, 1671, gave to the public the Immortal Work. It was accompanied by the formal approbation of the Archbishop of Rheims, and ten other bishops. Cardinal Bona, the oracle of the Roman See, to whom Bossuet sent it, wrote him a letter, commending it in the warmest terms of approbation. It was translated into every European language.

"Nothing," to use the words of the Bishop of Alais, in his recent Life of Bossuet, (L. III. S. 14.), " can be compared to the sensation which it excited in every part of Christian Europe,

Never, since the Council of Trent, had there been seen a consent, so unanimous, of all the Catholic churches, to adopt a common expression, in the profession of their opinions. Bossuet's exposition so simple, so clear, and so luminous, of the religious tenets of the Roman church, was an answer to all the imaginary charges, which had been brought against her doctrine, her discipline, and her institutions." Several protestants declared, that nothing was wanting to it, but to be avowed; and that if it should be universally approved by the theologians of the church of Rome, they should lose their repugnance to their re-union with the Roman-Catholic church.

Other Protestants represented the work differently. Their representation cannot be expressed better, than in the language of the historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." In the Exposition of the Catholic Doctrine," says that celebrated writer, in the Memoirs of his own Life and Writings, "Bossuet assumes with consummate art, the tone of candour and simplicity: and the ten-horned monster is transformed, by his magic touch, into a milk-white hind, who must be loved as soon as seen."

Three answers to it were published: one by M. de la Bastide; another by M. Noguier; and a third by M. de Brueys; all of them calvinists of distinction. They agreed in accusing Bossuet of "a disingenuous softening of the real doctrine of the RomanCatholic church." They hinted, "how much they desired, that all the members of the church of Rome, should hold the opinions and use the language of Bossuet: this," they observed, "would be a happy commencement of reformation:" but they remarked, that "this was far from being the case;" that " opinion upon the work had been pronounced by the Pope;" that" it had not even been approved of by the Sorbonne."

no

But, in due time, this opinion was pronounced, and this approbation obtained. In 1679, Pope Innocent expressed his approbation of it, in two briefs, which he addressed to Bossuet; and, in 1682, it was unanimously approved by the general assembly of the French clergy, which was held in that year at Paris. Father Maimbourg stands a solitary instance of dis

approbation by a Roman-Catholic; and his disapprobation is no more than a general sneer.

With the approbations which we have mentioned, a 6th edition of the Exposition was printed at Paris, in 1686. From this edition, all the subsequent editions have been printed.

One of the twelve copies printed by Bossuet for private circulation, fell into the hands of Dr. Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury. Perceiving that it varied, in some respects, from the subsequent editions, Doctor Wake announced the discovery to the public, and deposited the copy, thus fallen into his hands, among the archives at Lambeth. It was immediately reported, that "the copy was, in reality, the original edition;" that "the Sorbonne had disapproved of it;" that "in consequence of this disapprobation, the edition had been called in, a second published, with important variations, and imposed on the public as the first." Bossuet was informed of these reports by a letter from Father Johnstone, a Benedictine Monk. He replied to the Father by a letter, of the 26th May, 1686. He mentions in it the circumstance of the impression of twelve copies for private circulation among his friends, in the manner in which this has been related; he peremptorily denies, that the work had been censured by the Sorbonne, or any individual catholic; he explicitly declares, that no edition had been given to the public, before that which he announced as the first; and unequivocally asserts, that there was no important variation between the copy produced by Dr. Wake, and the copies in general circulation. In reply to the work itself, and in vindication of the charge of disingenuousness, which he had brought against Bossuet, Dr. Wake published his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England. He prefixed to it, "A Collection of some of those passages that were corrected in the first edition of the Exposition suppressed by Monsieur de Meaux." This work was answered by, A Vindication of Bossuet's Exposition. Dr. Wake replied to the Vindication, by A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England. To that, there was a Reply. In answer to that reply, Doctor Wake published "His second Defence:" and to his second Defence, there was

published, "A full Answer." Here the controversy appears

to have closed.

In the life of Bossuet, (L. 111. Pieces Justificatives, N. 1.) the Bishop of Alais has inserted all the Variations pointed out by Dr. Wake. After perusing and examining these alleged Variations, either as they are given by Dr. Wake, or as they are given by the Bishop of Alais, the reader will probably agree with the Bishop, "that they are so slight and indifferent, so evidently determined by the grammatical motive of giving force and precision to the style, and so foreign to the substance of the doctrine, that, by producing them, Doctor Wake rendered unintentionally a great service to Bossuet."

CHAPTER III.

The Symbolic Books of the Greek Church.

THE progress of the church of Constantinople, from a very humble station, to the eminent rank which she afterwards obtained in the Christian hierarchy, is a curious and important event in ecclesiastical history.

Before the seat of the Roman empire was transferred to Constantinople, the church had the three patriarchs of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria. Three dioceses were independent of them; and subject, each to its primate; that of Asia, to the primate of Ephesus; that of Thrace, to the primate of Heraclea; and that of Pontus, to the primate of Cesarea. It is not clear, that the church of Constantinople had its peculiar bishop; at most, the bishopric was inconsiderable, and its bishop subject to the metropolitan of Heraclea. After the translation of the seat of empire to Constantinople, the bishops of Constantinople acquired importance; by degrees, they obtained ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Thrace, Asia, and Pontus, and were elevated to the rank of Patriarch. The same rank was conferred on the bishop of Jerusalem. Thus, during a considerable period, the five Patriarchs of the Christian world were those of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. In course of time, the patriarch of Constantinople raised himself above the other oriental patriarchs, and finally assumed the