" In Tertullian they eagerly seize upon what they have
learned from us, in common with us, to detest; but they should
remember that his book _On Prescriptions_, which has so signally
smitten the heretics of our times, was never found fault with.
How finely, how, clearly, has Hippolytus, Bishop of Porto pointed
out beforehand the power of Antichrist, the times of Luther! They
call him, therefore, "a most babyish writer, an owl." Cyprian,
the delight and glory of Africa, that French critic Caussee, and
the Centuriators of Magdeburg, have termed "stupid, God-forsaken
corrupter of repentance." What harm has he done? He has written
_On Virgins, On the Lapsed, On the Unity of the Church_, such
treatises as also such letters to Cornelius, the Roman Pontiff,
that, unless credence be withdrawn from this Martyr, Peter Martyr
Vermilius and all his associates must count for worse than
adulterers and men guilty of sacrilege. And, not to dwell longer
on individuals, the Fathers of this age are all condemned "for
wonderful corruption of the doctrine of repentance." How so?
Because the austerity of the Canons in vogue at that time is
particularly obnoxious to this plausible sect which, better
fitted for dining-rooms than for churches, is wont to tickle
voluptuous ears and to sew _cushions on every arm_ (Ezech.
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