The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

A NEW EPOCH BEGUN. 367
hope of coming to an understanding had failed, the breach
was now complete. It was necessary to grow accustomed
to the thought that the unity of the family of the Christian
nations, that most precious heritage of the middle ages, had
been for ever broken, and that a new epoch had begun.
However painful this outlook may have been, the breach
had brought with it, on the other hand, that clearing up of
the religious position which had so long been needed. There
could no longer be any doubt as to what was Catholic and
what was not, and that religious uncertainty, which had confused
the understanding of so many Catholics, and had
paralysed so much activity, was now at an end. " This is the
belief of us all, this is our unanimous conviction, to which,
in token of our agreement and acceptance, we now sign our
names. This is the faith of St. Peter and the apostles, this
is the faith of the fathers and of all true believers." Thus,
after the reading of the decrees of the Council, had Cardinal
Guise exclaimed, in the midst of the acclamations at the last
Session, and in the full consciousness that their agreement
would be handed down, and renewed again and again, to the
uttermost bounds of the earth, and to the end of time, the
fathers had unanimously answered : " So do we believe, so
do we judge, so do we append our names." Error had been
judged, the old consciousness of the faith had found a new and
exact expression, simple in its form, and definite in its facts.
The " purity of the Gospel " which was always on the lips
of the adherents of the new faith, formed the starting point
for the Council's pronouncements. For the assembled bishops,
however, there could be no question of bringing the " pure
Gospel " out of a hiding place where it had lain concealed
during more than a thousands years of oblivion ;
for them it
was but a question of preserving the purity of the old and
never-forgotten doctrines of Christ, by the removal of error.
To them, moreover, the Gospel was not only that which had
been written down by the evangelists and apostles, but all that
had been preached by Christ and the apostles, and had been
handed down b^^ the Church over and above the Holy Scrip-
tures. The first and fundamental error of the innovators,