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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14435	A very Christian, learned, and briefe discourse, concerning the true, ancient, and Catholicke faith, against all wicked vp-start heresies seruing very profitably for a preseruatiue against the profane nouelties of papists, Anabaptists, Arrians, Brownists, and all other sectaries. First composed by Vincentius Lirinensis in Latine, about twelue hundreth yeares ago. And now faithfully translated into English, and illustrated with certaine marginall notes. By Thomas Tuke.; Pro catholicae fidei antiquitate libellus. English	Vincent, of Lérins, Saint, d. ca. 450.; Tuke, Thomas, d. 1657. aut	1611 (1611)	STC 24753; ESTC S102090	49,335	192

in the end of this second Aduertisement which haue ben spoken of in these two We haue sayd before that this hath euer bene and is also at this day the custome of Catholickes to proue the true saith these two wayes First by the authority of Gods word Secondly by the tradition of the Catholike Church not because the word alone is not sufficient of it selfe for all matters but because many whiles they expound the Scriptures as they list themselues they conceiue sundry opinions and errors And therefore that it is necessary that the interpretation of the heauenly Scripture should bee directed by the alone Rule of Ecclesiastical iudgement or vnderstanding especially in those questions at least on which the grounds of all the Catholicke doctrine are layed In like maner we haue sayd that we should againe haue regard in the Church her-selfe vnto the consent of All in generall and also of Antiquity least we should either bee broken off from the whole body of the Church being vnited and coupled together and so become Schismatickes or else be cast head-long from the antient religion into nouell heresies We haue also sayd that in the very antiquity of the Church two certaine things are earnestly and carefully to be obserued to which all that would not be Heretiques should throughly cleaue first if any thing hath bene of antient time decreed of all the Priests of the Catholicke Church by the authority of a generall Councell secondly if any strange question should arise when that in no wise might be found that recourse should be had to the iudgements of the holy Fathers of those onely which in their times and places conteining all of them in the vnity of fellowship and of the Faith were commendable Teachers And that whatsoeuer they should be found to haue held with one meaning and consent that it should without any scruple be iudged of the Church to be true and Catholicke CHAP. 42. VVHich-least we should seeme to set abroach through our owne presumption rather then by Ecclesiasticall authority we haue vsed the example of an holy Councell which was held almost three yeares since at Ephesus in Asia those most excellent men Bassus and Antiochus being Consuls Where when there was dispute about the confirming of the Rules of Faith least perhaps any profane noueltie should steale in there after the manner of the o Ariminian Councels vnfaithfull dealing this seemed to all the Priests which had come thither to the number almost of two hundreth to be a thing most Catholicke most commodious and best to be done that the iudgements of the holy Fathers should be brought foorth and shewed of whom it should be manifest that some were Martyrs others Confessors but that all had bene and had continued Catholicke Priests that so by their consent and decree the religion of the ancient doctrine might well and solemnly be confirmed and the blasphemy of wicked nouelty condemned Which when it was so done then was that foresaid Nestorius iudged contrary to Catholicke Antiquity but blessed Cyril to consent vnto it And that the truth of those things might in no wise be called into question we haue also shewed the names and number though we had forgotten the ranke of those Fathers according to whose order therein concording and vnanimous iudgement both the sentences of holy Writ were expounded and the rule of diuine doctrine established Whom for the strengthening of our memorie it is not superfluous here also to recite These therefore are the men whose writings either as of Iudges or as it were of Witnesses were in that Councell shewed and recited S. Peter of Alexandria a Bishop a most excellent Teacher and a most blessed Martyr S. Athanasius a Prelate of the same Citty a most faithfull Teacher and a most worthy Confessor Saint Theophilus a Bishop of the same Citie too a man very famous for his religion life and learning whom worthy Cyril did succeed who doth at this time make the Church of Alexandria famous And least it should perhaps be thought to be the doctrine of one City Prouince there were ioyned also those Lights of Cappadocia S. Gregory Bishop and Confessor of Nazianzum S. Basil Bishop and Confessor of Caesarea in Cappadocia as also the other S. Gregory Bishop of Nysse and for his faith conuersation vprightnesse and wisedome a man most worthy of his brother Basil But that it might be proued that not Greece alone or that the East onely but that the Weasterne and Latine world was alwayes also of that iudgement certaine Epistles also were there read written to certaine men by Saint Foelix a Martyr and S. Iulius Bishops of the City of Rome And that not only the head of the world but that the sides also might giue testimony to that iudgement there was taken from the South most blessed Cyprian Bishop of Carthage and a Martyr and from the North Saint Ambrose Bishop of Millaine All these ten therefore were at Ephesus produced as Teachers Counsellers Witnesses and Iudges whose doctrine counsell witnesse and iudgemēt that blessed Synode mainteining following crediting and obeying did readily discreetly vnpartially giue sentence concerning the Rules of Faith Although a farre greater number of Elders might haue bene ioyned to these yet it was not needfull because it was not sitting that the time allotted for that businesse should be taken vp and spent with producing of a multitude of Witnesses and for that euery man is perswaded that those ten did differ nothing in a maner in iudgement from all their other fellowes After all which things we haue also annexed the holy iudgement of Cyril which things are conteined in the ecclesiasticall acts For after that the Epistle of S. Capreolus Bishop of Carthage was read who laboured and intreated no other thing but that Noueltie being conuinced Antiquity might be beleeued Bishop Cyril spake and defined to the same effect the which it seemeth not vnfitting for the matter in hand here also to interpose For hee saith in the end of the Acts And this Epistle which was read quoth he of the reuerend very religious Bishop of Carthage Capreolus shall bee faithfully recorded whose iudgement is manifest for hee would haue the doctrines of the ancient faith confirmed but nouell conceipts and such as are superfluously deuised and wickedly published to bee reiected and condemned All the Bishops cryed together in signe of approbation These are the words of vs all we do all affirme these things this is the wish of vs all And what I pray you were the words and the wishes of all but that That should bee embraced which was anciently deliuered and that That should be banished which was newly deuised After which things we wondred at told of the great humility and holinesse of that Councell and what a number of Priests there were the greater part welneere being Metropolitanes of such knowledge and so well learned as that almost all of them were able to dispute of

well qualified whiles he doth insolently abuse the grace of God whiles he makes too much of his own wit and thinks so well of himself whiles he contēneth the ancient simplicity of Christian religion whiles he presumes he is wiser then all men and whiles that contemning the traditions of the Church and the maisterships of the Elders he doth after a new manner expound certaine places of the Scriptures he hath deserued that it should be sayd vnto the Church of God concerning him also If there arise among you a Prophet And a little after Thou shalt not quoth he listen to the words of that Prophet And againe Because the Lord your God saith he tryeth you whether ye will loue him or no. It was indeed not onely a temptation but euen a great temptation to remoue the Church being giuen vnto him and depending vpon him and through wondring at his wit learning eloquence conuersation and reputation suspecting him not nor fearing him to remoue the Church I say all vpon the sudden by little and little from the ancient Religion to nouell profanenesse But some man will say that the bookes of Origen are corrupted I gain say it not but had rather too it were so For that is both deliuered and written of some not onely Catholikes but also Heretiques But that is it which now we are to marke that although he himselfe bee not yet the bookes which are publiked vnder his name are a great temptation which being pestered with many wounds of blasphemies are both read embraced not as other mens but as his owne so that although Origen did not conceiue the error yet Origens authority may seeme powerfull to perswade the error CHAP. 24. BVt Tertullians cōdition also is euen the same For as he among the Greekes so this man among the Latines is without doubt to bee reputed the chiefest of all our men For who more learned then this man who more exercised in diuinity and in humanity For verily he did with a certaine admirable capacity of vnderstanding vnderstand compasse al Philosophy and all the sects of the Phylosophers the authors abettours of the sects and all their doctrines and all manner of stories and studies And did hee not excell for a wit so graue and vehement as that he propounded almost nothing to himselfe to vanquish which he did not either breake into with acutenesse or strike out with weightinesse Moreouer who can expresse the praises of his speech which was replenished with such I wot not what vrgent arguments as that whom he could not perswade he forced to consent vnto him whose sentences were almost as many as words and as many victories as reasons This knew the Martionists Apelles the Praxeans Hermogenes the Iewes Gentiles Gnostickes and the rest whose blasphemies he ouerthrew with his manifold great volumes as with certaine lightenings And yet this man also I say this Tertullian being vnmindfull of the Catholicke doctrine that is the vniuersall and ancient faith and much more eloquent thē happy changing his iudgment afterwards wrought that at last which the blessed Confessour Hilarie writeth of him in a certaine place By the error quoth he which he fell afterwards into he made the workes which he wrote well to loose their reputation And hee himselfe was also a great temptation in the Church But of him I will say no more This thing I will onely mention that because hee did against the commandement of Moses affirme that the new braine-sicke doctrines of Montanus arising in the Church and that those madde conceits of mad women euen the dreames of an vpstart doctrine were true prophecies he did deserue that it should be said of him also and of his writings If a Prophet shall arise among you And againe Thou shalt not heare the words of that Prophet Why so Because saith he the Lord your God tryeth you whether you will loue him or not By these therfore so many and so great examples in the Church and by the rest of that nature we ought euidently to marke and to know more clearely then the light that if euer any teacher in the Church shall wander from the faith the prouidence of God doth suffer it to be done for our tryall to proue whether we loue the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soule or no. CHAP. 25. VVHich things seeing they so stand he is a true and right Catholicke who loueth the truth of God the Church the body of Christ and who preferres nothing to Gods Religion nothing to the Catholicke faith not the authority not the loue not the wit not the eloquence nor the philosophy of any man but contemning all these things and abiding firme and stedfast in the faith doth iudge that whatsoeuer he shall vnderstand to bee vniuersally held of old of the Catholicke Church himselfe should hold and beleeue alone but whatsoeuer nouell and strange doctrine hee shall perceiue to bee priuily brought in after by any one besides or against the iudgement of all the Saints hee knowes that it belongs not to religion but rather to tentation And is also especially by the speeches of the blessed Apostle Paul instructed for this is that which hee writeth in his first Epistle to the Corinthes There must bee saith he heresies euen among you that they which are approued among you might be knowen As if hee should say for this cause the Authors of heresies are not presently rooted out by God that they which are approued might be seene that is that it might appeare how sure faithful and constant a louer of the Catholick faith euery mā is And in truth when euery nouelty cometh vp the weightinesse of the Corne and the lightnesse of the Chaffe is presently perceiued at which time that is easily shaken frō the Floore which was held with no weight within the Floore For some doe forthwith flye quite away but others being onely driuen out doe both feare to perish and blush to returne being wounded halfe dead and halfe aliue as haiung drunke such a quantity of poyson as neither kild them nor was digested as would neither make them dye nor suffer them to liue Oh miserable condition with what waues of care with what whirlwinds are they tossed For somtimes which way the wind shal driue thē they are carried with a violent error sometimes returning to themselues they are beatē back like cōtrary waues somtimes by rash presumptiō they allow of those things which seeme vncertaine sometimes also through a reasonlesse feare they are afraid of those things that are certaine being vncertaine which way to go which way to returne what to follow what to fly what to hold what to let go Which afflictiō verily of a doubting wauering hart is the medicine of Gods mercy towards them if they would be wise For therefore are they tossed beaten and almost killed with sundry tempests of thoughts out of the most quiet

taketh away the sinnes of the world Who are rauening Wolues but the sauage and rauening opinions or conceits of heretickes which alwaies annoy the Foldes of the Church and rend assunder the Flocke of Christ on what part soeuer they are able But that they may steale more slily vpon the vnwary sheepe retaining still their woluish cruelty they lay aside their shape of a Wolfe and wrap themselues within the sentences of the holy Scriptures as it were within certaine Sheepe-skinnes that when a body hath felt afore the softnesse of the wooll hee might not bee afraid of the bitings of the teeth But what saith our Sauiour Yee shall know them by their fruits That is when they shall begin not only now to vtter those sayings but also to expound them nor as yet to cracke of them only but also to interpret them then that bitternesse thē the sourenesse and madnesse is perceiued then this new deuised poison will bee breathed out then are prophane nouelties disclosed then may ye see the bounds of the Fathers to be remoued the Catholicke faith to be then but chered and the doctrine of the Church torne in peeces CHAP. 37. SVch were they whom the Apostle Paul reproueth in his second Epistle to the Corinthes saying For such false Apostles saith hee are crafty workmen transforming themselues into Apostles of Christ What meaneth this transforming themselues into the Apostles of Christ The Apostles alledged examples of the Law of God and so did they The Apostles cited the authorities of the Psalmes and so did they the Apostles produced the sayings of the Prophets euen so did they too not a iot the lesse But when they had begun to expound those sentences diuersly which they had alike alledged then were the simple Apostles discerned from the subtill Apostles the sincere from the counterfeite the right from the peruerse and finally the true from the false And no wonder quoth he For Sathan himselfe transformeth himselfe into an Angel of light it is no great thing therefore though his Ministers bee transformed as Ministers of righteousnesse Therefore by the Apostle Pauls doctrine so often as euer either false Apostles or false Prophets or false Teachers all edge the sentences of Gods word with the which being vnderstood amisse they seeke to maintaine their owne errors there is no doubt but that they follow the crafty deuises of their Author which he would neuer without doubt deuise but that hee knowes that there is no way at all more ready to deceiue then that where the deceit of a wicked errour is vnderhand introduced There the authority of Diuine sentences should bee pretended But some man will say how is it proued that the Diuell is wont to vse proofes of holy Scripture Let him read the Gospels in the which it is written Then the Diuell tooke him that is the Lord and Sauiour and set him vpon a pinacle of the Temple and said vnto him If thou be the Son of God cast thy selfe downe For it is written that hee hath giuen his Angels charge ouer thee to keepe thee in all thy waies and with their hands they shall lift thee vp least it may bee thou shouldest dash thy foote against a stone What will this Fiend do to silly men that set vpon the Lord of glory with testimonies of Scripture If quoth hee thou be the Son of God cast thy selfe downe Why so For saith he it is written The doctrine of this place is to bee diligently marked and reteined of vs that when we shall see some alledge the words of the Apostles or Prophets against the Catholicke Faith we should in no wise doubt considering such a remarkeable example of Euangelicall authority that the Diuell speaketh by them For as then the Head spake to the Head so now also the Members speake vnto the Members to wit the members of the Diuell to the members of Christ the vnfaithfull to the faithfull the sacrilegious to the religious finally Heretiques to Catholickes But what I pray you saith hee If quoth he thou bee the Sonne of God cast thy selfe downe That is to say thou wilt be the Son of God and wilt receiue the inheritance of the kingdome of heauen Cast thy selfe downe that is throw thy selfe off from the doctrine and tradition of this high Church which is also counted the Temple of God And if any man should aske some hereticke which perswades him to doe thus How dost thou prooue vpon what ground dost thou teach that I ought to forsake the vniuersall and ancient faith of the Catholicke Church Hee would presently answer For it is written And forthwith hee prepares a multitude of testimonies examples and authorities from the Law frō the Psalmes from the Apostles from the Prophets through the which being after a new and naughty manner interpreted the vnhappy soule might bee plunged headlong into the gulfe of heresie And now with those promises following the hereticks are wont to deceiue vnwary men For they presume to promise and to teach That in their Church that is in the conuenticle of their communion there is a great and special and in truth a certaine personall grace of God so as that they whosoeuer they bee that are of their company without any labour without any study without any trauell though they neither seeke nor aske nor knocke are yet for all that so ordered by God that being lifted vp in the hands of Angels that is being preserued by Angelicall protection they can neuer dash their foote against a stone that is they can neuer be scandalized or offended CHAP. 38. BVt some man doth say If the Diuel and his Disciples do vse Diuine speeches sentences and promises amongst whose Disciples some are Fals-apostles False-prophets and False-teachers and all of them generally heretiques what shal Catholicke men and the Children of the Church our Mother do How shall they discerne the truth in the holy Scriptures from falsehood Surely they shall haue speciall care to doe this which wee haue in writing set downe in the beginning of this aduertisement to haue beene deliuered vnto vs by holy and learned men namely that they doe interprete the holy Scriptures according to the traditions of the vniuersall Church and by the rules of Catholicke doctrine wherein also it is necessary that they follow the vniuersality antiquity and consent of the Catholique and Apostolique Church And if at any time a part shall rebell against the whole if nouelty shall thwart antiquity if the dissention of one or of some few erronious persons shall crosse the consent of all or surely of the greatest number of Catholickes let them preferre the soundnesse of the whole to the corruptnesse of a part in the which same vniuersall body let them make more account of religious antiquity then of profane nouelty in like manner in the same antiquity let them first and foremost afore all thinges preferre the generall decrees if there

that neither the distinction of the natures diuideth the vnitie of the person nor the vnitie of the person confounds the difference of the substances Blessed I say be the Church which that it might acknowledge that Christ both is was euer one confesseth that man was vnited to God not after his birth but now euen in the mothers wombe Blessed I say be the Church which vnderstandeth that God was made man not by the conuersion of nature but in regard of person person I say not counterfeit and transient but substantiall and permanent I say blessed bee the Church which affirmeth that this vnity of person is so effectuall as that by reason thereof the things of God are by a wonderfull and vnspeakable mysterie ascribed vnto man and the things of man ascribed vnto God For because of that vnitie it doth not deny that man descended from heauen in respect of the God-head and hath belieued that God was made vpon earth that he suffered and was crucified in regard of the Manhead To conclude by reason of that vnity she doth acknowledge Man to be the Sonne of God and God to be the Sonne of the Virgin Holy therefore and venerable blessed and inuiolable and to that celestiall praising performed of the Angels altogether comparable be this confession which glorifies God with a threefold sanctification For therefore it doth especially tel and glory of the vnitie of Christ least the mysterie of the Trinity should exceed Be these things spoken by way of digressing else where if God shall please they are more largely to be treated of and vnfolded Let vs now returne vnto our purpose CHAP. 23. VVE sayd therefore before that in the Church of God the Teachers error was the peoples temptation and that the tentation was so much the greater by how the the learneder he was that did erre Which we taught first by the authority of Scripture and then by Ecclesiasticall examples to wit by reckoning vp them that though they were for a time accounted sound in the faith yet at the last did either fall into the sect of some other or else deuised an heresie of their owne A matter doubtlesse of great moment both commodious to learne and necessary to be thought of and remembred the which wee ought diligently to illustrate and inculcate with the multitude of ensamples that all Catholikes for the most part may know That they ought with the Church to receiue teachers and not that they should with teachers forsake the faith that the Church embraceth But in my conceit though we might recken vp a number in this kind of tempting yet was there almost none that was so great a temptation as was Origen in whome there were many things so excellent so singular and so admirable that any man might easily iudge at first that all his assertions were to be belieued For if the life doth win authority his industry his chastity patience and sufferance was not small if either kindred or learning Who more noble then he who at the first was borne in that family which was made illustrious by Martyrdome And afterwards hauing for Christ lost not his father onely but all his substance also he did profit so much within the straites of holy pouerty he did often as they say susteine afflictions for confessing the Lord. Neither indeed were these things onely in him all which might afterwards proue a tentation but hee had also such a notable wit so profound so acute and so fine that he did much and farre surpasse almost all and so great was the skill of this notable man in all knowledge and learning as that there were but few things in diuine philosophy of humane it may be almost none which hee did not thorowly vnderstand Who when he had atteined to the learning of the Greekes he gaue himselfe also to the study of the Hebrew But why should I speake of eloquence whose speech was so pleasant so delectable and so sweete that not words me thinkes so much as hony seemed to flow out of his mouth What incredible things did he bolt out and cleer by the force of disputation What things seeming hard to be done did not he make that they should seeme most easie But he woue his assertions it may be onely with the knots of arguments Yea doubtlesse there was neuer any Teacher which vsed more examples or proofes of holy writ But he wrote I beleeue but little No man writ more that I thinke all his works cannot onely not be read ouer but indeede not so much as found And who also that he might not want any helpe to knowledge was furnished with ripenesse of age But perhaps he was not very happy in Disciples Who euer more happy For out of his bosome sprang innumerable Teachers an infinity of Priests Confessors and Martyers And now what man is able to conceiue in what admiration in what renowne and grace he was in with all men What man a little more deuout then ordinary did not with speed resort vnto him from the farthest quarters of the world What Christian did not reuerence him almost as a Prophet what Philosopher honor'd him not as a Maister And how reuerend he was accounted not onely among priuate men but euen of the chiefest in the Empire the Stories doe declare which say that he was sent for by the mother of Alexander the Emperour intruth because of heauenly wisedome which also he did much affect loue But the epistles also of the same mā beare witnes which he wrot by the authority of Christian Teacher to Emperour Philip who was the first Christian of all the Romane Princes Concerning whose incredible knowledge if any man beleeue not a Christian testimony we being the relators let him at the lest receiue a Pagan confession the Philosophers being the witnesses For that wicked Porphicie saith that being moued with his fame he went being in a manner but a boy to Alexandria and that he sawe him there being now an olde man but indeede so notably qualified as one that had attained to the height of all learning The day would sooner faile me then I shall be able to touch euen the smallest part of those excellent things which were in that man which notwithstanding did not only perteine to the glory of religion but also to the greatnesse of temptation For what man among a thousand would easily cast off from him a man of such an excellent wit so great a scholler and of so great account and not rather vse that sentēce That he had rather erre with Origen then iudge truly with other men But what should I make many words It so fell out that not some humane but as the euent declared a too dangerous temptation made by so great a person so great a Teacher so great a Prophet did draw very many frō the soundnesse of the Faith Wherefore this Origen so great and so

be any of an vniuersall counsell vnto the rashnesse of one or of some very few Then secondly if that be not let them follow which is the next thing to it the iudgements of many great Teachers that are agreeable one vnto another the which being faithfully soberly and carefully obserued by the Lords assistance we shall easily perceiue all the hurtfull errours of the heretickes which rise vp CHAP. 39. HEre now I see it meete that I should shew by examples how the profane nouelties of Heretickes may bee both found out and condemned when the iudgements of ancient Teachers agreeing one with another are produced and compared Which ancient consent of the holy Fathers wee should with great labour search out and follow yet not in all the petty questions of Gods word but onely at the leastwise especially in the rule of faith But neither are heresies alwaies nor all of them thus to be impugned but those onely that are new and fresh namely when as they doe first arise before they falsifie the Rules of the ancient faith whiles they bee let with the straitnesse of the time it selfe and before that the poyson spreading it selfe farther about they do attempt to corrupt the writings of the Elders But heresies that haue gathered much ground and are waxen old must not this way be assailed because that by reason of long continuance of time they haue had opportunity offered them a great while to steale the truth And therefore it behooueth vs either to confute those more ancient wicked Schismes or Heresies by no meanes but by the sole authority of the Scriptures if neede be or else verily to auoid them being now of old confuted condemned by the generall Councels of Catholike Priests Therefore so soone as the rottennesse of euery wicked errour beginnes to breake out and to steale for the defence of it selfe certaine sentences of Gods word and to expound them falsely and deceitfully the sentences or iudgements of the Elders are presently to bee gathered together for to interpret the Canon by the which that nouell and therefore profane opinion whatsoeuer it be which shall start vp may without any coyle presently be descried without any retractation condemned But the iudgements of those Fathers onely are to be compared together which liuing teaching cōtinuing holily wisely cōstantly in the Catholike Faith and Fellowship obteined either to dye faithfully in Christ or to be slaine happily for Christ Whom to notwithstanding we must giue credit with this condition that that be accounted vndoubedly true certaine and sure whatsoeuer either all of them or the most haue manifestly commonly and constantly with one and the same meaning as in a certaine vnanimous Councell of Teachers confirmed and established by receiuing holding and deliuering it But whatsoeuer any man shall conceite or thinke otherwise then all men or else contrary to all men though he be o holy and learned though he be a Bishop though he bee a Confessour and Martyr let it be put apart from the authority of the commune publicke and generall iudgement amongst proper hidden and priuate opinions and let vs not with very great hazzard of our soules after the wicked fashion of Heretiques Schismatiques follow the nouell errour of one man forsaking the truth of Catholike doctrine CHAP. 40. THE holy and Catholicke consent of which blessed Fathers least any man should vnaduisedly it may be thinke for to contemne the Apostle saith in the first epistle to the Corinthians And God indeede hath ordeined some in the Church as first Apostles of which ranke he himselfe was one secondly Prophets as we reade in the Acts of the Apostles that Agabus was thirdly Teachers which are now called Treatizers Tractators which by this same Apostle are sometimes called Prophets because they open the mysteries of the Prophets to the people Whosoeuer therefore doth contemne these men being set by God in sundry ages and places in the Church of God whiles in the name of Christ they do determine or iudge some one thing according to the meaning of the Catholicke doctrine he doth not contemne Man but God And from whom that no man should dissent whiles with one consent they speake the truth the same Apostle doth very earnestly desire saying Now I beseech you Brethren that ye All speake one thing and that there be no Schismes or dissentions among you but be ye knit together in the same mind and in the same iudgement If so be that any man shall goe from their commune iudgement he shal heare what the same Apostle saith God is not the God of dissention but of peace that is to say he is not his God which departeth from them that doe ioyntly consent vnto the truth but theirs that continue peacably consenting with them as saith he I teach in all the Churches of the Saints that is of the Catholickes which Churches are therefore holy because they abide in the fellowship of the faith And least any perhaps the rest beeing vnregarded should arrogate to bee heard himselfe alone and that he alone should be beleeued he saith a little after Came the word of God out from you either came it vnto you onely And least this should as it were for fashion sake be receiued he hath added saying If any man thinke himselfe to be a Prophet or Spirituall that is a teacher of spirituall things let him be with all diligence a louer of equality and vnitie that in truth he do neither preferre his own opinions to the rest and that he go not from the iudgements of all The commaundements of which things he which knowes not saith he that is hee which either learnes them not beeing vnknowne or which contemnes them being knowne he shall not be knowne that is he shal be counted vnworthie to be by God respected among them that are knit together in the faith and made equall by humilitie then which euill I wot not whether any cā be thought to be more grieuous Which yet we see to haue befallen as the Apostle threatned that Pelagian Iulianus who either neglected to agree in iudgement with his Fellows or else presumed to diuide himselfe from them But it is now time that we should produce that example promised wherein and after what manner the iudgements of the Fathers are gathered together that by them the Rule of ecclesiasticall faith might be established by the decree and authority of a Councel Which that it may be done more handsomely let this be the end now of this Aduertisement that we may begin the rest of the things that follow with another beginning The second Aduertisement hath fallen betweene neither hath any thing more thereof remained then the last parcell that is onely a briefe rehearsall of that which hath bene more largely handled which is also added after CHAP. 41. THe which things seeing they thus stand it is nowe time that we should rehearse the summe of those things