reigne of Ludovicus pius Haimo Bishop of â—abberstat wrote upon the Epistles oâ— 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 fâ—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
those things already consecrated by prayer and thanksgiving This among other things some approve not of in Iustinus Martyr that while hee labours to convince the Gentiles out of the writings of the Philosophers hee sometimes attributes too much to the later whose subtilty certainely did not penetrate to these mysteries of the kingdome of heaven At that time flourished the Alexandrian an Schoole Commodus being Emperour and namely the famous Clemens Alexandrinus anno 195. many of whose writings are yet extant in Greeke as the adhortatory booke against the Gentiles called Protrepticos three bookes of the Schoolemaster wherein hee teacheth the Sonne of God to be our Tutor and what ought to bee the manners of Christians Commentaries of the divers and manifold literature required to institute a Christian Philosopher Lib. 3. strom hee makes mention of a Gospell according to the Egyptians wherein there is a saying of Christ to Solon Veni ad dissolvendum opera foeminae I came to dissolve the workes of the woman But they are fabulous That in his second booke of the Schoole-master seemeth to some harsh and may bee wrested to a more hard construction Duplicem esse Sanguinem Domini alterum carnalem quo redempti sumus alterum spiritualem quo uncti et hoc essebibere sanguinem Domini incorruptionis eius esse participem That there is a two-fold blood of our Lord the one carnall whereby wee are redeemed the other spirituall wherewith wee are anointed and this is to drinke the blood of our Lord to be a partaker of his Incorruption Where the blood of Christ is improperly put for the effect or fruit thereof Origen was the Disciple of Clement under Severus the Emperour ann 200. after Christ who being from his Infancy throughly grounded in al kind of learning had also an incredible zeale in comforting the Martyrs as also industry and acutenesse in confuting the Philosophers and those Arrabians who would have soules to dye with their bodies as also Berillus the Hereticke who denyed the eternity of Christ whom at length hee reduc'd into the right way See Euseb lib. 6. cap. 2. and 4. But as the sharpest and best metled Knives easily grow dull or are broken so oftentimes the most acute wits either by too much confidence or inconstancy are soone overthrowne So it befell Origen who for his many errours as of all soules created at once of the Resurrection of new bodies according to substance of the salvation of the Divels at last of the possibility of the Law against the Doctrine of Iustification is ranked rather with the Heretickes than the Fathers Of the Origenists Heretickes see Saint Augustine cap 43. de haeresib and Epiphanius who with a strong endevour of minde opposed Origen and Hieram Tom. 6. confuteth some of his errours Yet wanteth hee not his defenders who excuse him and thinke many things to be falsly imputed to him as Pamphiâ—us the Priest Ruffinus and Chrysostome Some of his books are yet extant as eight bookes of Principles against Celsus and Commentaries upon Pentateucham and the Epistle to the Romans At the same time lived S. Tertullian whom the Historians make somewhat ancienter than Origen His writings are extant in Latine in a stile harsh and rough enough although in some places as the Learned affirme it is mutilated and misplaced especially in what he wrote against Marcia and Praxea He wrote many things not to be dispised of praescriptions against Heretickes of Patience of the flesh of Christ of the resurrection of Christ of the Trinity of Baptisme but above all his Apology against the Gentiles deserves prayse which as Saint Hierome affirmes containes the learning of all Ages In other of his books he is either too pure or too crabbed and severe as in his booke touching flight in persecution which hee simply dis-allowes also in his booke of Fasting of the Cloke of the Crowne of a Souldier of Virgins to be veyled But in his bookes to his Wife and of having one onely Wife Monogamy and of the exhortation to Chastity he seemes to embrace the errors of Montanus Saint Hierome thinkes Tertullian to have beene provoked to this by the Roman Clergie B. Rhenanus excuseth him thus That in the time of Persecution and the day of Judgement as most of the Ancients then thought being at hand hee judged Mariage not greatly to be desired Hee was addicted to the opinion of the Chiliasts as is collected out of his third booke against Marcio In his booke against Praxea are many dangerous phrases as Patrem tota substantia Deum esse Filium derivatione et portione aliqua Deitatis That the Father is God according to the whole substance the Sonne by derivation and some part of the God-head Saint Augustine de Genes ad literam lib. 10. cap. 25. notes also this errour in Tertullian that he beleeved the soule to be a body for no other cause saith the same Father then that hee could not thinke it to be incorporeall fearing lest it should be nothing if it were not a body Neither could hee conceive otherwise of God himselfe to whom he gave a body Which notwithstanding S. Augustine elsewhere so interprets as if he there understood by a body a Nature or Substance Yet are these Acurologiai to be avoyded These things considered who seeth not how preposterous the judgements of the Papists are who complaine of the obscurity of the Scriptures and tye us to the Fathers that is lead us from certainties to uncertainties from things simply true to doubtfull from cleare to troubled and perplexed For whether or no they did it out of weakenesse or out of policy to draw and allure the heathen to them it is incredible to be spoken sometimes how wittily and sometimes againe how simply the Fathers of those times have Philosophiz'd concerning things Divine To omit Ceremonies many of which the Papists themselves have changed as that in the time of Tertullian milke and wine were given to the Baptized that Christians abstained from Sawsiges and Puddings that they offer'd sacrifices for the dead and on birth dayes In the yeare of Christ 250. Decius and Valerianus being Emperours flourished Coecilius Cyprianus an Affrican Hee was first a Rhetorician then a Priest next a Bishop and at length a Martyr of Christ whom Lactantius commends for perspicuity and elegancy of phrase Erasmus gives him this Testimony Si omnia Cypriani opera haberemus quae magna ex parte interciderunt cum unum multorum instar haberi posse sive Eloquâ—ntiam sive Doctrinam sive Apostolici Spiritus vigorem spectes If we had all Cyprians workes whereof many are lost hee alone would in value counterpoize many either in respect of Eloquence Doctrine or the vigour of the Apostolicall spirit Gratianus in 1 parte Decreti Dist 15. can 3. when he numbreth the Fathers received in the Church beginneth with Saint Cyprian Except his Epistles and some other short Tracts as
refici possint Quid quod filio Dei quaedam tradita sunt quae non habeat ut homo fieret All things are given him as a Physician that should heale the biting of the Serpent as to the life that quickeneth as to a light illuminating this is spoken in regard of his office God saith hee hath granted that as by him all things are made so by him all things may be refreshed What if wee say that some things are given to the Sonne of God that he had not before that he should be made man Moreover against Schwenckfeld in the same Treatise Vtrumque de Christo est credendum illum esse Deum et omnia creasse et esse hominem et ita creatum et creaturam qualis est homo Hominum enim proprium est creari Both saith he are to be beleeved of Christ that he was a God and created all things and that he was a man and so created and a creature such as manis for it is proper to men to be created Also against the Papisticall canonization of impious men in his Epistle To all the godly founded and sanctified in Christ Hinc quoq Heresis agnosci et convinci potest quòd quisquis ipsis charus est et eiusdem impietatis socius etiam si aliis delictis et infinitis sceleribus obnoxius et adversus se habeat argument a scelerum suorum probus apud eos et in pretio habetur quin imo statim Imperatoris amicus efficitur commendabilis scilicet sua impietate Qui vero corum impietatem redarguit et quae Christi sunt sincere procurant isti tametsi puri in omnibus modo crimen in eos confingatur in exilium abripiuntur Hence may Heresie be knowne and convinced that whosoever is deare to them and a companion in the same Impiety although he be guilty of sundry crimes and infinite vices and hath arguments against himselfe of his owne hainous acts yet he is approved and had in great esteeme amongst them yea and is forthwith made the Emperours friend and is commendable for his Impiety But those who reprove their wickednesse and teach the things sincerely which are of Christ such though pure in all things upon any feigned crime layd to their charge are presently hurried into banishment To Athanasius we may joyne Eusebius the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine who got the sir-name of Pamphilus from his friend Pamphilus the Martyr and in the Nicene Synod joyned himselfe to the Orthodox although in the beginning he wavered a little as saith Sozomen lib. 1. hist cap. 20. He was very learned in the Languages History and Philosophy Hee wrote a History from the Nativity of Christ to the time of Constantine the great inclusively which Socrates the Schooleman and Hermias Sozomenus continued from Constantine to Theodosius the first and Honorius and Evagrius to the time of Maurice the Emperour vulgarly called the Tripartite History Eusebius wrote also a Chronicle which is yet extant and a booke of Evangelicall demonstration and preparation in which he compares the Evangelicall Doctrine with Philosophy and other Religions and solidly demonstrates no Doctrine to be more perfect than the Evangelicall as also that in the Gospell many things better and more certaine are contained than in any other Doctrine whatsoever He was suspected indeed by some to have privily favoured Arius but an Apology for him is extant in Socrates lib. 2. cap. 17. Yet in the beginning of the same History Socrates doth not dissemble this fault of Eusebius that writing the life of Constantine which is comprehended in foure bookes he lightly blamed the deeds of Arius and that hee predicated the vertues of that Emperour concealing his vices and that he studied more to render his Oration illustrious wherein he highly praised him and to adorne it with Majesticall words than diligently to explaine the things done He had another blemish common with him and many Greeke Authors which Bodin not undeservedly imputes to him in his method of History which is that retaining somewhat of the Grecian vanity hee relates not a few fabulous things which have little or no appearance of Truth As of an Epistle of Aglarus King of the Edisseni to Christ and of Christs answer to him of Saint Iohn the Apostle and a certaine young man by him recalled from the society of Theeves also of the finding out of the Woodden Crosse and of its vertue of Saint Peter who desired a certaine kinde of death to wit Crucifying and governd the Roman Church 25. yeares which how farre it is from Truth Calvin amongst others sheweth lib. 4. Instit cap. 6. sect 14. But as Gelasius admonisheth in cap. 3. lib. 3. Irenaei it is very likely those great men were deceived by a certaine vulgar opinion not enquiring into things diligently neither could they imagine what Engines Satan was then preparing to raise up the kingdome of Antichrist After Eusebius and Athanasius who died under Valentinianus in the yeare 379 Hilarius is rightly placed He was Bishop of the Picts in France and lived in the time of Constantine the sonne of Constantine the Great and his life extended even to the reigne of Valentinian Saint Hierom preferres him before other Doctors of the Church and although younger was his familiar friend His stile is such as rightly warnes Erasmus that it is hard to be understood easie to be deprav'd yet Saint Hierom calls him the Trumpet of the Latine tongue perhaps because hee was the first that confuted the Arians in that Language His workes are extant publish'd at Basil anno 70. by Eusebius Episcopius and are partly controversiall partly expository He wrote 12. bookes of the Trinity against the Arians also an Epistle against Constantine being then dead who was the chiefe favourer of the Arian Faction and against Auxentius the Millanist a fautor of the Arian party as also of divers Synods against the Arians which booke hee translated for the most part out of Greeke from the Synodicall decrees His expository bookes are a Commentary upon Matthew but a short one as also upon many Psalmes all which are comprehended in one Tome Hee hath many faults For first hee hath many hard and unusuall words as disfrocit for degenerate Zabolus for Diabolus and many more of the like kind Next he affirmes the holy Ghost to be from the Father by the Sonne lib. 10. de Trinit and upon the 8. Psalme he attributes a soule and a body to Christ not subject to any molesting affections and averres that thirst and hunger were not natural in him He seemes to maintaine the body of Christ to bee borne and brought forth by the Virgin Mary not to be made of her substance lib. 10. de Trinit In his commentary upon Saint Matthew he too much inclines to the Allegories of Origen Next Hilarius wee may rightly place Saint Ambrose Bishop of Millan who lived in the times of Valentinianus Gratianus Theodosius and Honorius
carne exequente quod carnis est unum horum coruscat miraculis alterum succumbit inivriis Non est ejusdem naturae flere Lazarus resuscitare Either forme workes that which is proper to it with the communion of the other the word working what is of the word and the flesh executing what is of the flesh The one of these shines with Miracles the other is subject to injuries To bewaile Lazarus and to raise him proceede not from the same nature This saying also is memorable and makes against the Papists Serm. 2. de Petro on that place of Matthew 16. Tu es Petrus thou art Peter c. Soliditas ejus fidei quae in Apostolorum principe laudata est perpetua est Haec fides diabolum vincit portaeque inferi adversus eam praevalere non possunt The solidity saith he of that faith which is praised in the chiefe of the Apostles is perpetuall This Faith shall vanquish the Divell and the gates of hell cannot prevaile against it About the yeere 591. Gregory the first lived Bishop of Rome surnamed the great who in his youth was a Munke of the Benedictine Order He instituted the Masse and most of the Psalmodies which are in the Papacy His Workes are extant printed at Basill by the Frobenij anno 51. Stella a Venecian Priest who wrote his life saith he was a most humble man and the first of the Popes that out of his humility would be called the servant of servants Nullum inquit ex successoribus habuit aequalem aut paâ—em None of his successours saith he were equall or like to him Hee laboured much to call the Gothes to the true Faith Hee wrote morall Expositions upon Iob also on the seven Psames which wee call Poenetetiall and upon Ezechiel the Bookes of the Kings and forty Homilies upon the Gospels In his Expositions he is pure enough Tom. 1. l. 25. c. 15. he writes thus Sciunt inquit pij quod omnis justitia humana injustitia esse deprehenditur si divinitus districte iudicetur The godly know saith he that all humane Justice appeares injustice if it be strictly examined from above In his Epistles also are found many excellent admonitions as that which he writes in his second Tome to Serenus the Massilliensian Bishop Ad nos per venit quod fraternitas vestra quosdam imagenum admiratores adspiciens easdem Ecclesiae imagenes confregit Eum quidem Zelum ne quid manu factum adorari possit laudavimus sed frangere easdem non debuisse judicamus Idcirco enim pictura in Ecclesijs adhibetur vt hi qui literas nesciunt saltem in parietibus videndo legant It is told that your Fraternalshippe seeing certaine admirers of Images hath broken the said Images belonging to the Church Wee commend that zeale indeede which would have nothing made by hands to be adored but we judge that you ought not to have broken them for therefore are Pictures admitted into Churches that they who are ignorant of good letters may read by looking on the wals Hee wrote a Treatise of the Pastorall Cure not unprofitable but in his Dialogues hee seemes to dote in relating I know not what feined Miracles as Stephano cuidam Presbytero Diabolum coactum obedire ad extrahendas caligas Bonifacium quendam orando duodecim aureos a Maria imputrasse Fortunatum quendam signo crucis equum furiosum mansuetum reddidisse That the Divell by constreint obeyed one Stephan a Priest to pull off his hose That one Boniface by prayer obtained twelue crownes from the Virgin Marie That one Fortunatus made a fierce horse tame with the signe of the Crosse Concerning the fire of Purgatory hee writes doubtfully lib. 1. Dial. 10. Qualis hinc quisque egredietur talis in judicio praesentabitur Sed de quibusdam levibus culpis Purgatorium esse ignem ante judicium credendum est Such as every one departeth hence such shall hee be presented at the day of judgement But it is to be beleeved that there is a Purgatory fire before the day of Judgement for some light crimes Tome 2. epâ—st 58. lib. 4. he complaines grievously that the peace of the whole Church is disturbed by one Iohn Bishoppe of Constantinople by assuming the name of Universall Bishop And lib. 7. epist 39. to Mauritius the Emperour hee thus writes Ego fidenter dico quod quisquis se universalem Sacerdotem vocat vel vocare desiderat in elatione sua Antichristum praecurrit I confidently affirme saith hee that whosoever calleth or desireth to call himselfe an universall Priest is by this his pride marked for a forerunner of Antichrist Yet for all this presently after Gregory Phocas successour of Maurice in the yeere 660. granted to Boniface the third that Rome should be the head of all other Churches Yet all the Churches never simply consented to it especially the Greeke and the Frence In the yeere 727 in the time of Leo Isaurus Iconomachus Iohannes Damascenus lived At first hee was Secretary to the Duke of the Sarazens but after that hee became a Munke His chiefe writings are foure Bookes of the Orthodoxe Faith which Faber Stapulensis translated out of Greeke Lib. 1. he discourses of the Essence of God and of the three Persons Lib. 2. of the workes of God of the Angels of Man of the Fabricature of the World Lib. 3. of the dispensation of the mystery of our Salvation where he learnedly disputes of the vnion of Natures and the actions Theandricall also of the twofold Will of Christ but he addes many things supersticious as of the adoration of Images c. Anno 1116. Saint Bernhard Abbot of Clarovall was in great repute for his sanctity of life and Doctrine and was admitted to compose differences between Kings and Princes At that time there was such a disturbance of all things as saith Calvin lib. 4. instit cap. 7. Sect. 22. that it was not much unlike our times if we consider the Papacy But Saint Bernhard makes grieuous complaints and admonitions of the corruption of the Papall Court in his Book of Consideration to Pope Eugenius Many excellent sayings also of his are to be read in Sermonib in Cantic Cantecor and on the 91 Psalme which Sermons are worthy the perusall yet many things fabulous are intermingled as of Saints and he numbers the washing of feet amongst the Sacraments CHAP. IIII. Of the Writers commonly called SCHOOLMEN THe labour would be infinite to number all the Scholasticall Authors it suffiseth us to shew the chiefe whose Monuments are extant There were after those times also some Bishops though not so famous yet not unlearned as anno 630. in the time of Heraclius Isidorus Bishop of Hispalia who wrote holy Expositions upon Bookes and some Bookes of Etymologies Also Beda an English Priest who in the time of Iustinian the second anno 690. wrote upon the New Testament as also a learned Booke of Times Anno 834. in the
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 Innovatâ—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
Emperors and when he was Proconsul in Liguria in the time of Valentinianus he was called to the Bishopricke of Millan with the full consent of the people It is reported that he baptized Saint Austine Hee was endued with great zeale as appeares in the Ecclesiasticall story and by his demeanour in his Bishopricke The writings of Saint Ambrose extant are divided into foure Tomes and are partly morall as the three bookes of the offices of a Christian an institution and exhortation to Virgins of Widowes of Repentance of the worlds volubility of the good wee receive by death Also they are partly Doctrinall Tom. 2. of the vocation of the Gentiles of faith to Gratianus of the holy Ghost to the same of Faith against the Arians of the Sacrament of the Dominicall Incarnation But it is to bee observed that the more learned have judged Saint Ambrose not to bee the Author of the Treatise of the calling of the Gentiles 1. Because he speaks no where so purely of the Predestination of God 2. By reason there is mention made of Pelagius who lived after Saint Ambrose 3. In that Saint Augustine who cites many things out of Saint Ambrose against Boniface the Pelagian mentions not this bâ—â—ke which inveighes most of all against the Pelagians 4. The dissimilitude of phrase But it is certaine the Author of that booke to have beene a learned man and well exercised in the Scriptures which makes Erasmus not unaptly wish that many such were mixed with the workes of Saint Ambrose Amongst many excellent sayings contained in those books these golden words are extant making directly against the Papists lib. 1. cap. 5. where hee disputes the reason why to one man grace is given to another denyed Quid Calumniamur inquit iustitiam occultam qui gratias debemus misericordiae manifestae Laudemus et veneremur quod agitur quia tutum est nescire quod tegitur Hic nec praeterita nec futura merita censeri possunt vilesceret Redemptio Christi neo misericordiae Dei humanarum operum praerogativa succumberet si iustificatio quae fit per gratiam meritis praecedentibus deberetur ut non munus largientis sed merces esset operantis Why doe we calumniate saith hee the hidden Justice who owe thankes for the manifested Mercy Let us prayse and adore what is done because it is safe not to know what is hid Here neither past nor future merits are to bee reckoned The Redemption of Christ would be abased neither would the prerogative of humane workes give place to the mercy of God if Iustification which is by grace were due to precedent merits so that it should not be the gift of the distributer but the reward of the worker The Writings of Saint Ambrose are partly also Homileticall as Tom. 3. Orations Epistles Sermons partly againe Expository as Tom. 4. lib. Hexaemeron and a Treatise of the Patriarchs which belong to Genesis He wrote also copiously on the 119. Psalme and of the Sacraments of the Church also a glosse upon Saint Luke and Commentaries upon the Epistles of Saint Paul Where againe it is to be noted against the Papists that S. Ambrose upon the fourth Chapter to the Romans useth the particle onely when he averreth Gratiam Dei solam fidem poscere ad salutem The grace of God doth require faith onely to salvation Saint Augustine quotes his Commentaries upon Esay and the 48. Psalme but they are not extant By reason of his ignorance in the Greeke and Latine Tongues he erred often in his Expositions which is common to him together with Saint Austin and some others But although he be over-vehement in the commendations of Virginity yet is that memorable against the Papists which he writes in his first booke of Virgins Non debere imperari virginitatem nec necessitatem imponendam nec castam esse quae metu cogitur Virginity saith he ought not to be commanded neither of necessity to bee imposed nor is shee chaste who is compelled by feare In his bookes of the Sacraments there are some things ambiguous othersome superstitious as of Unction in Baptisme which notwithstanding was not done altogether without cause by those of riper yeares also of water to bee mixed with the Wine in the Cup at the Lords Table Yet is it remarkeable against the Papists that in his booke of Sacraments hee onely acknowledgeth two Baptisme and the Supper of the Lord. And when lib. 6. he disputes how the bread is made the body of the Lord hee speaketh nothing at all of Transubstantiation but hee confesseth that there seemeth to be a similitude onely not true flesh and blood and that wee must beleeve the operatory word of Christ that is the efficacious that the Sacrament is taken outwardly Grace and Vertue inwardly Hee plainely distinguisheth bread from Grace Tu inquit qui accipis panem in illa alimento Divinae participas Substantiae quia idem Christus est particeps corporis et Divinitatis Thou saith hee who takest bread in that nourishment participatest of the Divine Substance because the same Christ is partaker of a body and Divinity which is as much to say wee communicate the whole Christ and communicating his flesh have communion also with God Neither did the Greeke Churches want excellent Doctors for in those times namely under Valentinian Basilius Magnus of Caesaria Cappadocia and Gregory Bishop of Nazianzena were famous of whom as yet some worthy monuments are extant Wee linke them together because they were companions in Studies and most intimate friends Yet Gregory lived longest even to the yeare 400. and wrote a Monody or Funerall Oration which containes the life of S. Basil There are extant of this S. Gregory eloquent Orations and Epistles as also Greeke Poems which are in the hands of all men There lived also in those times Gregorius Nissenus brother of Basilius who wrote eight bookes of Man There is a learned Epistle extant written to him by S. Basil of the difference betweene the Essence and Subsistence Moreover S. Basil as hee himselfe somewhere writeth was diligently instructed in the Christian Religion from a child He was indued with so much Eloquence that Erasmus doubts not to call him the Christian Demosthenes Amongst others that saying which is extant in his Sermon of Humility is eminent and is often cited by our Divines against the Papists Haec est perfecta et integra gloriatio quando non propter iustitiam suam aliquis â—ffertur sed agnoscit sibi deesse veram iustitiam fide autem sola in Christum iustificari This is saith he perfect and entire glory when a man is not puffed up with his owne Iustice but acknowledgeth himselfe to want true Iustice and that Iustification is onely by faith in Iesus Christ Also in his Epistle of the sacred Scripture to Eustathius the Physician Non consuetudinem sed sacras Scripturas nermam debere esse The sacred Scriptures and not Custome ought to
epist 38. Si delitioso cupitis pabulo saginari B. Augustini opuscula legite et ad comparationem siligimis illius nostrum furfur em non quaeratis If you desire saith he to be fatned with delicious faâ—â— read the workes of Saint Austine and having â—â—sted his flowre you will not seeke after our Branne Which is to be noted against the Papists who preferre that Gregory the first before all others The workes of Saint Austine are distributed into ten Tomes some of them are Philosophicall and of no great moment as of Grammar Rhetoricke Logicke Musicke of Order of the quantity of the soule In his bookes of Confessions wherein he describes his owne life hee often useth too much simplicity and copiousnesse yet may they be read cursorily But the Students in Divinity meaning to read Saint Augustine ought to beginne at his Doctrinals and first at his foure books of Christian Doctrin in which he instructs a future Divine Next hee must read his Enchiridion to Laurentius and the booke of Faith to Peter of the spirit and the letter and of the Ecclesiasticall opinions The Epistles of Saint Augustine and the bookes of the City of God are of a mixt kind partly Doctrinall partly Historicall but full of various learning Thence let him proceed to his Polemicall or Controversiall which hee wrote against the Maniches the Arians Donatists c. His expository bookes as upon the Psalmes and Saint Iohns Gospell containe more piety than solid Interpretation partly by reason of his small insight in the Hebrew and Greeke Tongues partly because in those Interpretations hee accommodated his writing to those times as also that sometimes he makes digressions but his Commentary on Saint Iohn is excellent above the rest The Palmary or Master-peece of Saint Austin was that above all the other Fathers and almost alone being provoked by the Pelagians hee discusseth diligently the Doctrine of Originall sinne and Predestination But as in Saint Austin it is very laudable that he only of all the Ancients wrote bookes of Retractations for in his seventh Epistle hee professeth himselfe to bee of their number who write by profiting and profit by writing so there remaine some things which require a censure Yet is there no doubt but many things are inserted in his workes of which hee is not the Author For he being yet alive sixteene Articles were falsly father'd on him to which hee replyed But chiefly this was his errour that as hee wrote much so hee often varies nor is alwayes consonant to himselfe Hee hath also many Acurologia's as Danaeus a most learned Divine observes in his Annotations upon the Enchiridion of Saint Austin Then he erred in that he precisely included the salvation of Infants in the sacrament of Bapâ—isme But whereas in some places hee cals the Eucharist a Sacrifice hee thus interpreteth himselfe lib. 10. Civit. Dei cap. 20. that it is the Sacrament of the Sacrifice of Christ In another place hee seemes to affirme that the pious soules of the deceased are helped by the Almes and prayers of the living but without the warrant of the Word of God especially in his booke entituled The â—are for the dead where he handles this question Whether or no it profiteth to be bâ—ried neere the Monument of any Saint But that Booke as Calvin admonisheth lib. 3. Instit. cap. 5. Sect. 10. conteines so many doubts that the coldnesse of it is able to extinguish the heate of any foolish zeale and there is no doubt but that Booke hath beene depraved by many Monkish additions for in another place as lib. 2. question Evangeliâ— câ—p 38. hee affirmes Nullum auxilium a justis praeberi defunctorum animabus that the soules of the deceased receive no helpe from just men Cyrillus Bishop of Alexandria flourished about the yeere 433. in the reigne of Theodosius the younger He expelled the Iewes out of his Diocesse and killed not a few of them in the Synagogues by the hands of his Souldiers Being much incensed against Nestorious he excommunicated him by his owne proper authority which was not approved of by the Fathers although he defended a good cause and that Nestorius was a little after condemned in the Ephesine Councell Cyrillus wrote in Greeke and many things which are extant in Latine They were publisht at Basill apud Hervag anno 66. with an addition In the first Tome are found Commentaries upon Leviticus in which he insists too much upon the Anagogicall sense He also wrote Commentaries upon Saint Iohn but imperfect His second Tome is Doctrinall as the booke which he calleth a Treasure There in 14. bookes he defends the Consubstantiallity of the Sonne and the holy Ghost against the Arians In the third Tome he disputes against Iulian for the Christian Religion also touching the right Faith to Theodosius and the Queene The fourth Tome conteines Epistles Homilies and an Apologie to Theodosius also an Exposition of the Nicene Creed and Synodicall Epistles together with other things against the Nestorians The fift Tome is a Commentary upon Esay not long since added to his Works and Translated by Laurence Humfre an Englishman Vigilius Bishop of Trent flourished in those times of whose Workes but a few are extant printed at Colen in Octavo as a disputation against the Arians and five books against Eutyches both pious and learned which are often objected against the Vbiquitaries The Hearers of Saint Austin who reteined his Doctrine were anno 440. Primasius who wrote upon all the Epistles of Saint Paul Prosper Aquitanic anno 454. Helychius anno 490. hee wrote upon Leviticus Fulgentius a Bishoppe in Africa about the yeere five hundred under Thrasymund King of the Vandals hee wrote three bookes of diverse questions to Monimus seven bookes to King Thrasymund and other things worthy the reading His Workes were most accurately Printed at Antwerpe by Plantin anno 74. After the time of Saint Austin and his Disciples the purity of Doctrine began with the Roman Empire very much to decline by reason of the accumulated superstitions of the Munkes wherefore the succeeding Fathers cannot be in the same esteeme with the first and more ancient yet had the following their peculiar gifts not to be coÌ„temned wrote many things which are read with great profit Leo the first of that name Bishop of Rome about the yeere 444. in the time of Attila Hee was the Author of gathering together a Synod against Eutyches and Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria who would oppresse Flavianus an orthodox Bishop of Constantinople His Workes as his Sermons Epist are imprinted at Colen by Birkmannus Amongst his Epistles that to Flavianus against the Blasphemies of Eutyches is most eminent the authority of which Epistle was of great force in the Chalcedonian Councell wherein amongst the rest this speech is remarkeable Agit vtraque forma id est natura cum alterius communione quod proprium est verbo operante quod verbi est