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authority_n	believe_v	faith_n	scripture_n	10,448	5	6.7135	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13839	A synopsis or compendium of the fathers, or of the most famous and ancient doctors of the Church, as also of the schoolmen Wherein is clearely shewed how much is to be attributed to them, in what severall times they lived, with what caution they are to be read, and which were their perfections, which their errors. A treatise most necessary, and profitable to young divines, and delightfull to all such whose studies in humanity take from them the leisure, though not the desire of reading the fathers; whose curiosity this briefe surveigh of antiquity will in part satisfie. Written in Latin by that reverend and renowned divine, Daniel Tossanus, chiefe Professor of Divinity in the University of Heidelberge, and faithfully Englished by A.S. Gent.; Synopsis de patribus. English	Tossanus, Daniel, 1541-1602.; Stafford, Anthony.	1635 (1635)	STC 24145; ESTC S118496	31,571	108

not of much lesse Authority but in which almost nothing but the Decrees of the former Councels were establisht as that of Constantinople the fourth and sixth about the yeere 680. which condemned the errors of the Monothelites who averred that the Deity Humanity of Christ had onely one will and operation But Gregory the first Bishop of Rome erred who lib. 2. epist 10. writeth thus Quatuor Synodos sanctae universalis Ecclesiae sicut quatuor libros sancti Evangelii recipimus Wee receive the foure Synods of the holy universall Church as wee doe the foure Evangelists Gratianus writeth somewhat better in Decreto Canon 3. Sancta Romana Ecclesia post veteris et novi Testamenti Scripturas quas regulariter suscipit etiam quatuor Synodos suscipi non prohibet The holy Roman Church saith hee after the Scriptures of the old and new Testament which it regularly receives doth not forbid the admittance of the foure Synods Moreover these rules are to be observed concerning those foure Oecumenicall Councels Wee must beleeve the Scriptures for themselves because they have never erred in matters words or sentences but we beleeve the Councels not for themselves but for the Scriptures The certainety of the Symbols and confessions of Faith made by those Councels doth not consist in the authority of the men or the places but in the perpetuall consent of the whole Church from the time of the Apostles Councels have no power of making new Articles of Faith but onely to explaine them by Scripture and produce them against Hereticks Councels may bee ex●mined and searched what is in them agreeable to the Divine Word and what not For if to those of Beraea it were lawfull to examine the Doctrine of Saint Paul and conferre it with the Scriptures why may not wee examine the Councels since many of them contradictone another as the Nicene and the Ariminensian the Chalcedonian and the second Ephesian the sixt at Constantine-Poole touching the pulling down of Images and the second Nicene under Irenes against the defacers of Images Also many have erred as that of Carthage before the Nicene of the re-baptizing of Heretickes the Nicene concerning warfare the second Ephesian in defending Euryches although some great and famous men were present Leo Bishop of Rome epist 30. 31. saith that hee doth approve of the decrees of the Chalcedon Synod as farre as they concerne Doctrine but not those which were acted with Anatholius And the saying of Saint Austin lib. 3. cont Maximinus is very remarkeable Nec ego tibi Nicoenum Concilium nec tu mihi Arimin●●●e tanquam praeiudicaturus proferas nec ego huius authoritate nec tu illius detineris Scripturarum authoritatibus non quorumlibet propriis sed utrisque communibus testibus certemus res cum re ratio cum ratione decertet Neither saith hee will I with prejudice urge against thee the Nicene Councell neither doe thou prejudice against mee the Ariminensian neither am I tyed to the Authority of the one nor thou of the other Let us both submit our selves to the Authority of the Scriptures witnesses not proper to one but common to both Let one matter one reason contest with another But some Councels deliberated onely upon those things which appertained to the Ecclesiasticall policy as that of Spain and the Laodicenian Other Councels decreed partly some things holy partly many impious as the Lateran celebrated at Rome under Innocent the third where the prophane Doctrine of Transubstantiation was ranked with the Articles of our faith And so in the following Councels the state of the Church alwayes declining many Idolatries were established so that not without cause the Evangelical Churches have rejected their Authority and have appealed from them to the Antiquity of the Apostolicall Age. CHAP. III. Of the private Writings of the Fathers BEfore the Nicene Councell there flourished in the Church the two Disciples of the Apostles Polycarpus and Ignatius in their youth Auditors of Saint Iohn the Apostle But of these there are no writings extant except certaine fragments of the Epistles of Ignatius To them succeeded Irenaeus Bishop of Lions and Iustinus the Philosopher surnamed Martyr in the reigne of Antonius the Emperour Hierom in his Catalogue of the Ecclesiasticall Writers testifieth Irenaeus to have written many things but now there is only one Volume remaining consisting of five bookes against the Heresie of Valentinus and the like wherein there are excellent sayings of the cunning Arguments of Heretickes as also of the authority and consent of the Ecclesiastical Doctrine Among others this saying is very rife lib. 3. cap. 21. Christum pro nobis passum requiesconte verbo at crucifigi et mori posset The Word resting Christ suffer'd for us that he might be crucified and dye Irenaeus anno 70. was set forth at Geneva with the notes of Nicholas Gelasius who hath explained certaine things unfitly spoken as that in his third Booke Filium hominis commixtum verbo Dei The sonne of man is mixt with the word of God Also Mariam sibi et universo generi humano factam causam salutis Mary was made the cause of salvation to her selfe and all mankind which to say is blasphemy unlesse we consider her as the Organ through which our Saviour passed into the world There are extant both deserving and learned writings of Iustinus Martyr in Greeke Questions and Answers against the Gentiles about true faith and an Apology for the Christians to Antoninus In the second booke there is a memorable place of the Liturgy of the Ancient Christians out of which may bee proved how much the Papists degenerate from the custome of the ancient Church for thus hee saith Die qui Solis dicitur omnes tum qui in opidis tum qui in agris morantur in unum convenimus et ex Commentariis Apostolorum et Prophetarum Scriptis recitatur quantam licet Deinde ubi destitit qui recitat antistes orationem habet quae admonet hertaturque ad pulchrarum illarum rerum imitationem Postea omnes una surgimus et precamur Postquam autem à precibus destitimus profertur panis et vinum et aqua Tum antistes rursus precatur et gratias agit quanta potest contentione populusque acclamat dicens Amen et iis super quibus actae sunt gratiae unusquisque participat On the day called Sunday wee assemble together as well they which are in the Townes as those that dwell in the fields when as much as is convenient is recited out of the Commentaries of the Apostles and writings of the Prophets When the Reciter hath ended the chiefe Priest maketh an Oration which admonisheth and exhorts to the imitation of those faire things After this we rise altogether and pray prayers being ended there is brought forth bread wine and water Then the chiefe Priest prayeth againe and gives thankes with as great ardency as he can and the people cry Amen Then every one participates of

Scriptures which neglected they shall grope like one blinde in the darke and saile in a wide Sea without either North-Starre or Compasse Another Caution ought to bee that though the authority and consent of the Fathers in the Truth doe much confirme and comfort yet Faith is onely to bee builded upon the Apostolicall and Propheticall Scriptures as a foundation most firme For the Scripture as the only Queene and Empresse as Luther is used to say ought to have the soveraigne Command The third Caution is that in reading the Fathers wee doe not imitate those flatterers of ●ionisius Siculu who licking up the Tyrants spittle affirmed it to bee sweeter than Nectar To these I may liken such as without any exception embrace and magnifie indifferently all the Writings and Sayings of the Fathers These are the points about which at this day we combat the Iesuites the stoutest Champions the Pope hath and not as they labour to perswade the vulgar about the Fathers themselves or reverent Antiquity as if wee did plainely reiect them and after the Athenian manner were delighted with the novelties of Newes-tellers For first wee recall them to true Antiquity which is to be derived from the ancient of dayes and his revelations that so wee may refuse and condemne as new whatsoever Christ hath not taught us as Saint Ambrose adviseth us lib. 1. Officior Next wee distinguish betweene the ages of the Church and betweene Father and Father and demonstrate in one and the same Father what is authenticall what erroneous irreptitious and inserted by the Monkes Moreover when wee enquire after the Church we doe not seeke the degenerate and adulterate but the chast and holy Spouse of Christ And why may not wee say the same of the Roman Church at this day that Cicero in his Oration for his house said of the Roman people An tu populum Romanum esse putas qui constat ex iis qui mercede conducuntur qui impelluntur ut vim adferant magistrastibus optant quotidiè praecipiti furore caedem incendia rapinas O speciem dignitatis populi Romani quam scilicet reges quam nationes ex terrae quam gentes ultimae pertimescunt Dost thou thinke saith hee that to be the people of Rome which consisteth of those that are mercenary who are ready to offer violence to Magistrates that desire daily with a desperate fury fire rapes and slaughter Othe goodly dignity of the Roman people whom Kings forreigne Nations and the most remote inhabitants of the earth doe feare Wee doe indeed much esteeme that Roman Church whose faith is preached through the whole world we likewise reverence those Fathers and Bishops which are not commended to us by the onely authority and Canonization of Popes but by their owne purity of Doctrine Innocency of life and constancy in Martyrdome But it is well the Iesuits so distrust their owne cause that they dare not stand to the decision of the sacred Scriptures nor of the Fathers themselves except they bee mutilated and altered according to their will and deformed with many suppositious bookes Their Impudency this way clearely appeareth in their Index Expurgatorius not long since here published out of all which wee may easily collect that they retaine neither shame faith nor conscience nor any thing authenticke either in the Scriptures or Fathers but onely what is appropriated to their superstition and will-worship of Images Now most loving Auditors because it is much materiall to the Students in Divinity though all have not the meanes and faculty of reading the Fathers at least to know what is to be iudged and determined of them in generall and which were the most famous Fathers and Scholasticall Authors as also with what iudgment choyce they are to be read I thinke it wil neither be a service unacceptable nor unprofitable if in the end of these dogge-dayes and before the Mart now at hand I instruct you in the premises and contract the whole matter into as it were a Synopsis or abridgement Errata Page 2. line 3. read it●● p. 5. l. 4. r. litera● p. 8. l. 8. r. Academicorum p. 11. l. penu●● r. ●●lle p. 14. l. 1. r. Canon law p. 19. l. 13. r. A Doctrina p. 23. l. 13 r. Constantinople p. 24. l. 11. f. preiudice r. produce p. 27. l. 14. r. quantum p. 70 l. 12. r. Lazarum p. 71. l. 10. r. Masse p. 77. l. 2. r. taught p. 67. l. 7. r. Nestorius p. 71. l. 3. f. shall r. doth p. 72. l. 19. r. it is told u● p. 74. r. French p. 76. l. penult f. upon Bookes r. upon the sacred Writ A SYNOPSIS OR COMPENDIVM of the Fathers or of the most Famous and Ancient Doctors of the Church as also of the Schoole-men Generall Aphorismes containing certaine Rules by which we may judge in reading of the Fathers of their true Antiquity and Purity together with the Solutions of some Objections Aphorisme 1. THat true Antiquity is to bee sought after and magnified is the Common Tenent of all Pious People 2. For it is manifest that the Christian Religion is the most Ancient as deriving it Testimonies from the very beginning of the world 3. But this is not to be esteemed true Antiquity to understand Quid hic aut ille ante nos fecerit aut docuerit sed quid is qui ante omnes est Christus et qui solus via est veritas et vita à cujus praeceptis nullo modo recedendum est What this or that man did or taught before us but what he did who was before all even Christ himselfe who onely is the Way the Truth and the Life from whose Precepts wee ought not to digresse as saith Saint Cyprian ad Caecil lib. 2. epist 3. 4. Omnis quippe Antiquitas ct consuctudo sine veritate nihil aliud nisi Err●ris vetustas censenda est So that all Antiquity and Custome not grounded on the Truth is to bee accounted no other than an Ancient Errour as the same Saint Cyprian piously writeth to Pomp. against the Epistle of Stephanus 5. But the Ancient Truth God taught us by his Prophets and Apostles who though in condition they were men and indeed sinners yet in Doctrine which was revealed to them supernaturally by the holy Ghost not by the will of man wee know them rightly to bee fellow-Witneffes Ephes 2. 20. 2 Pet. 1. 20. 6. The Perfection of the Scriptures is easily proved by these two Arguments First That they are sufficient to instruct in those things that belong to salvation and to the full knowledge of the Truth Iohn 5. 39. Iohn 20. 30. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16. Secondly Because in Temptations Faith onely finds rest in the Testimonies of the sacred Scriptures having alwayes for its Object the Word of God revealed by the Prophets and Apostles which cannot bee said of any other Writings or Bookes whatsoever 7. To recall us therefore from the manifest Testimonies of the Scriptures to the Writings of

could quote the Fathers but hee had rather appeale to the sacred Scriptures 22. For it is certaine that Saint Cyprian dissented from the Church about the Baptisme of Heretickes and that Tertullian being bewitch'd by the Montanists wrote some Tracts against the Tenents of the Church as also that Saint Lactantius and others were too much addicted to the opinions of the Chiliasts and Platonists and as true it is that many things are ascribed to the Fathers falsely which savour neither of their stile faith nor piety as shall bee shewed in its proper place 23. Moreover it is most sure that Councels have often erred and that those things which had beene well constituted by some Councels were overthrowne by others Yea and in the Nicene Councell it selfe an unjust sentence had beene pronounced against the marriage of Priests had not one Paphnutius an old man opposed it In that Councell also there was an over-hard Canon written against them who after a Confession of faith once made did fight for their Princes 24. Not without reason therefore is that of Panormitanus a Doctor of the Common Law De Elect. cap. significasti Magis credendum Laico si Scriptaras adferat quam Papae et toti Concilio si absque Scripturis agant We owe a greater beleefe to a Lay man producing the Scriptures than to the Pope and a whole Councell if they determine any thing without them 25. They erre therefore who would have the common opinion passe for a Law preferring the multitude of humane Testimonies before the Scriptures 26. But some will say Heretickes beleeve not the Scriptures and therefore we must have recourse to the authority of the Fathers To which I answer that they will lesse beleeve the Fathers and the Church as appeareth in the Ecclesiasticall History by the Arians and Nestorians who after the Councels of Nice and Ephesus and the crees of the Fathers became more obstinate than before 27. Whereas therefore the Evangelicall Divines of Wormes anno 57. when they affirmed the holy Writ onely to bee the Judge of Controversie being asked thereupon whether or no thereby they meant to take away all authority from the Fathers answer'd that they willingly would receive the Fathers which lived in the first 500. yeares after Christ it is not so to be understood as if they did simply approve them in all things which the very Papists themselves doe not but comparatively that the corruption of Doctrine was lesse in those times than in the Ages following although there were not wanting who after those 500. yeares retained the Apostolicall Doctrine in many points as Fulgentius Vigilius Leo Bishop of Rome Bernard and Damascene himselfe especially if you consider the Doctrine of the person of Christ 28. It remaineth that we answer them who demand what is to be done when places are produced out of those first Fathers which seeme somewhat to confirme the opinions of the Papists or the errors of others as in prayer for the dead the sacrifice of the Masse Free-Will c. To this I answer First that proofes of opinions are to be derived from the Scriptures and the rule of Saint Paul to bee strictly observed 2 Cor. 13. Wee can doe nothing against the Truth but all for the Truth Secondly wee must compare many places together Thirdly wee must consider how and secundum quid any thing is spoken by the Fathers Fourthly we must distinguish the Authenticke books from the Bastard and supposed or suspected as are the bookes Hypognosticon of S. Austin and of Questions of the old and new Testament of a blessed life and many more not rellishing like the doctrine or stile of S. Austin as Erasmus and Iacobus Hermerus rightly observe THE SECOND PART Of the Writings of the Fathers whereof some are publike and some private CHAP. I. Of the Canons which they call the Apostles Canons and are wont to bee inserted in the first Tome of Councels in the beginning THere are certaine Canons publisht in the Greeke Tongue which they call the Apostles Canons some maintaining that they were collected by Clement the Successor of Saint Peter but it is manifest that Rapsody to have beene written long after the times of the Apostles for there are many things spoken of utterly unknowne to the Apostles dayes As of celebrating the Paschall Feast before the Vernall Aequinoctiall of gold and silver vessels sanctified of Clergy men and Lay-men c. Withall it is unjust that the Papists should object against and impose upon us those Canons which they themselves in many things observe not as the Canon of Clergy men taken in Tavernes to bee denyed the Communion of all the faithfull entring the Church who are commanded to heare and communicate the Scriptures as also the Canon that no Bishop or Priest put away his wife under the pretext of Religion c. Lastly in Gratianus himselfe Dist 16. those Canons by the authority of one Isidorus are numbred amongst the Apocripha although in another place by the authority of one Zephirinus they are simply received which contradiction the glosse cannot otherwise reconcile than by distinction of those Canons whereof some are Apostolicall and some suspected It stands otherwise with the Apostles Creed which hath authority above and is received before all other Confessions because almost all of it consists of the words of the Scripture it selfe and comes to us by Apostolicall Tradition See Cyprian and Ruffin in Symbol That Creed also is the Fountaine and Originall of all other Creeds For as Irenaeus rightly admonisheth lib. 3 cap. 1. Doctrina Apostolorum simpliciter pendemus nec cogitandum est alios doctiores aut sapientiores successisse Apostolis Wee meerely depend upon the Doctrine of the Apostles neither ought wee to thinke that any more wise or learned than they have succeeded them CHAP. II. Of Councels AFter the Apostles time there were Synods often assembled to decide Ecclesiasticall controversies and that before the Nicene Councell as about the Controversie concerning the Paschall Feast in the yeare of Christ 198. in Palestine and at Rome also against the Novatians at Rome and in Africa and against Paulus Samosatenus anno 278. to confute whose errour and blasphemy there is extant an excellent confession of Gregorius Neocaesariensis But those Synods before the Nicene were accounted but particular and provinciall because the persecution being so hot they could not conveniently call Generall Councels The Generall or Oecumenicall as Saint Augustine calls them are chiefly foure The first Nicene in the time of Constantine the great about the yeare 332. The first Constantinopolitane by Gratianus and Theodosius the elder anno 386. assembled against Macedonius and men of pneumaticall spirits The first Ephesine anno 435. called by Theodosius the younger against Nestorius The Chalcedonian in the reigne of the Emperour Martianus anno 456. In which were condemned Eutyches Abbot of Constantinople and Dioscorns Bishop of Alexandria To these foure universall Councels Beda and some others adde two more

of Patience of Mortality of the lapsed also against Demetrianus and the Iewes scarce anything of Saint Cyprian is left us although I cannot deny some other Sermons are inserted The explication of the Creed is rather made by Ruffinus than Saint Cyprian The Treatise of the Lords Supper seemes also to have another Author After the Frobenian and Lugdunensian Edition his workes were printed and revised by Turnebus at Paris and after that at Colen with an addition of some fragments Hee confuted Novatus the Hereticke whom in his Epistles hee stiles an importunate Innovat●r and a murtherer of penitence The staines of Saint Cyprian were that hee contended too obstinately that they were to be re-baptized who were baptized by Heretickes or who leaving Heresie repented Although the Affrican Councell assented to him yet Stephanus a Roman Bishop opposed him Saint Augustine lib. 2. contra Crescon Grammat saith thus Nos nullam Cypriano facimus iniuriam cum eius quaslibet literas a Canonica Divinarum Scripturarum anthoritate distinguimus Non teneor authoritate Epistolae Cypriani ad Iubaianum et cum eius pace quod cum Scripturis non convenit respuo Wee doe no wrong to Cyprian if we distinguish any of his letters from the Canonicall Authority of the Divine Scriptures I am not tyed to the authority of Cyprians letter to Iubaianus and by his leave I refuse that which agrees not with the Scriptures Saint Cyprian also in his Epistles over-carefully and superstitiously urgeth water to be mixed with wine in the Administration of the Lords Supper because water and blood flowed from the side of Christ Also Epist 8. lib. 3. hee affirmes Infantes statim esse baptizandos ne pereant quòd eis misericordia non sit deneganda That Infants must forthwith be baptized lest they perish because mercy is not to be denied them Where hee seemes to confine mercy to the Signes Anno 260. Gregorius Neocaesariensis the Disciple of Origen a learned and pious man confuted Samosatenus of whose workes there is nothing extant save a confession of his in the Councell of Antioch against Samosatenus To these times may be referred Arnobius an Affrican of whose composing eight bookes are extant against the Gentiles as also his Commentaries on the Psalmes but they are very briefe and falsified by the Monkes About the yeare after Christ 317. flourished Lactantius Firmianus in the beginning of the reigne of Constantine the great to whom hee dedicated his bookes of Divine Institutions against the Gentiles Hee lived at Nicodemia and excelled in Elegancy and lustre of Language all the Writers of the Church But hee seemed little to understand the proper Doctrine of the Gospell concerning the Benefits of Christ and of Faith For hee expresly writeth that Christ was therefore sent that by his Word and Example hee might invite us to vertue and suffered onely to be a president of Patience And when in his 5. and 6. booke hee expresly and of purpose handles the point of Christian Justice he onely disputes of the Justice of the Law and mentions very sparingly the Justification by Faith But the first part of his Institutions which taxeth the heathenish Idolatries and Philosophicall opinions of God and the Chiefe Good as also his booke of the Workemanship of God in the structure of man may be read with great profit and pleasure The Fathers in the time of the Nicene Councell which was held anno Christi 330. whose Writings are extant Athanasius although in the time of the Councell he were not a Bishop yet was he alwayes a faithfull assistant of Alexander the Bishop of Alexandria whom hee afterward succeeded and deservedly obtaines the first place amongst the Fathers of that time For although hee were exposed to innumerable Calumnies yet with an incredible constancy he frustrated all the endevours of his adversaries and is stiled the Bulwark of Faith in the Ecclesiastical History neither was there any other cause that more whetted the bitter hatred of the Arians against him as saith Theodoret lib. 1. hist than that they perceived the sharpnesse of his wit and industry in confuting of Heretickes in the Nicene Councell His Creed or his explication of the Apostolical Creed is in the Church among other Creeds received There are yet some of his most grave and excellent Treatises extant at Basill set forth heretofore by the Frobenii and Episcopii but more lately at Paris by Nivellius Petrus Nannius an eloquent man being his Interpretour as an oration against Idols of the Incarnation of the Word an Epistle against Heretickes to Epictetus Bishop of Corinth an Exposition of Faith foure Orations against the Arians a double Apology for his flight against the Calumnies of the Arians of divers questions of the Scripture to Antiochus and many others of the same Argument which our Divines usually object against the Neorians and Vbiquitarians The life of S. Anthony the Abbot is father'd on him but there are in it many things fabulous which savour not of the gravity and simplicity of S. Athanasius Most true it is that both S. Athanasius and those ancient Fathers were too fervent in commending the signe of the Crosse and the miracles wrought by that signe and by Martyrs thinking by this meanes to authorize the Evangelicall Doctrine While wee give these cautions touching the blemishes of the Fathers we are not lyable to that censure which the Papists lay upon us derived from the Authority of the same Father who in his first Oration complaines that the Arians accused the Fathers for he speakes not there of all the writings of the Fathers but of the Nicene Creed gathered out of the Scriptures by the Fathers of that Councell to confute the Arians For hee there diligently admonisheth us to try the Spirits which may be easily done by those who are conversant in the Scriptures There are some memorable speeches of Athanasius to be observed First against the Lutherans out of the second Oration against the Arians Nunquam populus Christianus ab Episcopis suis sed a Domino in quem creditum suit nomen accepit Ne ab Apostolis quidem appellationes adepti sumus sed a Christo Illi qui aliundè originem suae fidei ducunt ut haeretici meritò authorum suorum cognomenta praese ferunt The Christian people never tooke their Name from the Bishops but from the Lord in whom they beleeved Neither have wee our appellations from the Apostles but from Christ himselfe They who derive their Faith from any other Originall as heretickes deservedly beare the surnames of their Authors Then against the Vbiquitaries upon that saying Omnia mihi tradita sunt c. All things are given mee Tradita sunt illi omnia ut medico qui sanaret morsum serpentis ut vitae qui vivificaret ut luci illuminanti id est ratione officii Dedit inquit Deus ut quemadmodum per eum facta sunt omnia ita in eo omnia

reigne of Ludovicus pius Haimo Bishop of ●abberstat wrote upon the Epistles o● Saint Paul and many other things Anno 856. lived Rabanus Maurus who being first made Abbot of Fulda was afterwards Bishop of Mens Hee is reported to have written the glosse commonly called the Ordinary There is a saying of his memorable in cap. 2. Epist Iacobi Abraham per opera quae fecit iustus non fuit sed sola fide oblatio autem ejus opus testimonium fuit fidei Abraham was not just by the works that he did but by faith onely but his oblation was a worke and testimony of his Faith But it is to be observed that the zeale and diligence of the Bishops decreasing and their wealth and dignity augmenting the priviledge of Teaching and Writing was conferred on certain Munks Priests called Schoole Doctors because they taght most in the Schools Before this time the Doctrin of Saint Austin and his manner of teaching was for the most part received but about the yeere 1200. the Schoole Divinity beganne to spring up which afterwards degenerated from its first simplicity and purity and fell upon many unprofitable and doubtfull questions full of Phylosophy call subtilties together with definitions and sentences accommodated to the corruptions of those times The chiefe of these were Lanfrancus Monachus Papiensis who opposed himselfe against Berengarius Albertus Magnus and Peter Lombard Then also did Gratianus gather the Decrees of the Popes into one Uolume and without judgement insomuch that the Glosse sweats in reconciling the contradictions Peter Lombard about the yeere 1150. wrote foure Books of Sentences collected out of all the Fathers as the foundation and compendium of all Scholasticall Divinity which with some are of great value yet hath he cited many things amisse out of the Fathers and omitted not a few necessary Many things there are in him which if rightly understood and explained make against the Papists especially where hee treats of the Supper of the Lord. He that would know the defects of Lombard let him peruse the notes of Danaeus in lib. 1. sentent But like as Lombard did not well in that he would confirme the opinions of Christian Religion rather by the Authorities of the Fathers then by the Testimonies of the Scriptures so hee is more tolerable farre then the other Schoolemen who acknowledge Aristotle for their Master and attribute more to his authority then to the Scriptures Among others of that time William Occam was famous anno 1030. who defended the right of the Emperor against the Pope very learnedly Question Whether therefore did Tertullian against Hermogin rightly call the Philosophers Patriarks of Hereticks and lib. de praescript hee tearmes the Logicke which the Hereticks learnt out of Aristotle the subverter of Truth and the turne-coat artificer of building and destroying Answer These are to be understood secundum quid of Chrisippean Sophismes and such Logicians as Eutydemus in Plato who instantly denied what hee formerly granted Next of those who make Philosophy a Mistresse and a Lady in Divine matters who ought to be the Waitingmade the imbecillity of reason in Divine things being not onely apparent but its Adunamia 1 Corinth 12. Yet are not Philosophy and Reason to be rejected but God is to be invok'd that he wil giue us the spirit of wisedome whereby the eyes of our minds may be illuminated that wee faine not false Principles and involve our selves and others in ambiguities and subtilties of words as in times past the Valentinians did and many of the Schoolemen doe which Abbot Trithemius acknowledgeth when he saith Ab hoc tempore Philosophia secularis sacram Theologiam f●cdare coepit from this time saith hee secular Philosophy began to pollute sacred Divinitie But to returne to Peter Lombard It is not to be expressed how many of his successors have I cannot say explain'd but inuolv'd his bookes of Sentences as amongst the rest Bonaventura Albertus Magnus Thomas Aquinas Occam Durandus and innumerable others the last whereof was Thomas Caietanus who lived in the time of Luther The Disciple of Albertus Magnus was Thomas Aquinas commonly called the Angelicall Doctor who lived in the yeare 1270. In him two things are laudable First that hee argued very methodically Secondly that as well in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans as in his Summa Theolog. he hath disputed more tolerably of Justification and Predestination than any of the rest But he is much to bee blamed in this that hee imployd the whole strength of his wit in defending Transubstantiation though most unhappily and with many contradictions Not long after lived Iohannes Scotus surnamed Duns a Franciscan who opposed Thomas whence sprung the two sects Thomists and Scotists of which the first were called Nominall the latter Reall because the one concluded the names onely the other the things themselves also to bee comprehended under the predicaments But it is to be noted that there was another Iohannes Scotus long before those times anno 874. a man most learned in the Greeke and Latin Tongues who govern'd the Schoole at Oxford and at length was murdered by his Schollers with Penneknives because his opinion of the Lords Supper was no way pleasing to the Monks The last Age of the Schoolemen from the Councell of Constance to the time of Luther was not more happy but more audacious infinitely ignorant although some were more enlightned with knowledge than others The chiefe of these were Iohannes Capreolus Iohannes Gerson Chancellour of Paris Gabriel Biel Tubinga Petrus de Alliaco Cardinalis Cameracensis who wrote questions upon the booke of Sentences of Peter Lombard where amongst others this saying of his concerning the Eucharist is observable Communem Sententiam esse panem Transubstantiari licet id non sequitur evidenter ex Scriptura sed ex determinatione tamen Ecclesiae Alia opinio est quod substantia panis remanet valde enim possibile est substantiam panis coexistere substantiae corporis nec est magis impossibile duas substantias coexistere quam duas qualitates Possibile inquam est Corpus Christi assumere corpus perunionem et ille modus non repugnat rationi nec authoritati Biblicae It is the common opinion saith hee that the bread is Transubstantiated although that evidently appeare not by the Scripture yet by the determination of the Church it does Another opinion is that the substance of the bread remaines for it is very possible that the substance of the bread may coexist with the substance of the body neither is it more impossible that two substances should coexist than two qualities It is possible I say the body of Christ may assume another body by union and that manner is neither repugnant to reason nor the authority of the Bible Which opinion though Lanfrancus had long before refuted as not agreeable to the words of Christ yet Luther embrac'd it as