great _Athanasius_, who flourished from the Year 326. to 373. and St. _Basil_, who writ about the Year 369. after examining, in his Letter to _Amphilochus_, the two opposite Practices, seems inclined to think the Baptism of Heretics null. According to the present Doctrine of the Church of _Rome_, Baptism, by whomsoever administred, whether _Jew_, _Gentile_, Heretic, _Mohammedan_, &c. whether Man or Woman, or even a Child, is valid, provided it be only administred with an Intention of administring it, without which every Sacrament, say they, is null. This Doctrine, with respect to the Intention, proves daily to timorous Consciences the Source of endless Doubts and Perplexities, which can never be removed: for tho’ they may know for certain, that the Ceremony was performed, yet they can never know whether or no it was performed with the due Intention. In Confession, for Instance, they may hear the Words of the Absolution pronounced by the Priest; but they know nothing of his Intention, of the Intention of the Minister who baptized him, of the Bishop who ordained him, of the Priest who baptized, or the Bishops who ordained that Bishop, and so up to the Apostles, by whom the first Bishops were ordained. Should the right Intention have been wanting in any of these; should the Priest, while he pronounces the Words of Absolution, have his Thoughts employed on some other Object, as it may easily happen; the penitent Sinner would depart from his Tribunal with the whole Load of his Sins, and be damned, notwithstanding his Repentance, for, or, more properly speaking, thro' want of Attention in the Priest. A most unchristian and impious Doctrine, placing our eternal Salvation in the Hands of others, and not in our own. 3. The Council decreed, that excommunicated Persons should be no-where absolved from the Excommunication but in the Places where they had been excommunicated. The Bishops of _Rome_ did not yet know, it seems, that they were vested with an unlimited Power of binding and loosening, of excommunicating and absolving, with respect to all Persons and Places; for had _Sylvester_ but dreamt of such a Power, we may well suppose he would never have suffered it to be thus controuled. Several other Canons were made by this Council, in all Twenty-two; but it is foreign to my Purpose to take notice of them. I shall only observe, that the Council consisted of Thirty-three Bishops, and not of Two hundred, as _Baronius_ supposes, upon the Authority of St. _Austin_, whom he misunderstood; and that _Marinus_ Bishop of _Arles_ presided, his Name being placed at the Head of the Subscriptions, and the Names of _Sylvester_’s Legates after his. Footnote N10.1: Leo, ep. 94. c. 1. Footnote N10.2: Leo, ep. 109. -----