saith he rauished with all my affection there will I attend with my deuotion There through loue do I take all my delight and thereunto will I hold my selfe by consent Now although this zeale of S. Austin and S. Bernard hath been followed and obserued badly by their successors who since their time gaue too much credit to their owne Councels and humane fantasies yet Gerson neuerthelesle sought to remedie this abuse through his wholesome aduertisements For in his booke of the spirituall life of the soule he sheweth that the sayings of the Apostles and their disciples were of another kinde of authoritie namely in things which purely concerne our faith then the instructions of their successors and consequently that the authoritie of the Primitiue Church is farre greater then that which is at this day and that there is neither Pope nor Councell that can abate any thing of that which was giuen vs by the Euangelists and S. Paul or which hath the like authoritie to make that any thing should bee of faith as some men dreame And in another place vpon this question if in points of faith one might be called before the Pope No particular man saith he not the Pope himselfe neither the Bishops can make a proposition which is hereticall to be catholicall or which is catholicall to be hereticall And againe in the triall of doctrines Consider 5. Tom. 1. That in case of doctrine more credit is to be giuen to one simple lay man excellently skilfull in the Scripture then to the Popes declaration insomuch as it is certaine that one ought to beleeue the Gospell rather then the Pope Also that such a learned man ought to oppose himselfe against a whole Councell if he be there present and seeth the greater partie to be inclined either through malice or ignorance to that which is contrarie to the Gospell according to the example of S. Hilary Whereunto doth agree that which the Abbat Panorma wrote in his chapter intituled Significat extra de Elect. to wit that in things which concerne faith the saying of a priuate person ought to be preferred before the saying of the Pope if so be it is fortified with better reasons out of the old and new Testament Franciscus Picus de Mirandula saith If in a whole Councell the greater partie would ordaine some things which are â—ontrarie to the holy Scriptures and against things that are not lawfull to bee violated the other which are of the lesser number opposing themselues against the greater wee must rather cleaue vnto the lesser number as it happened in the Councels of Rimini and the second of Ephesus Yea euen a simple countriman a childe or an old woman are more worthie to bee beleeued then the Pope and a thousand Bishops if they should speake against the Gospell Now that which wee haue spoken of the authoritie of Councels ought to be appropriated to the censure of our fathers pastors of the ancient Church to wit that wee ought not to receiue their writings with such a reuerence and obedience of faith as wee receiue the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles but to iudge and examine them by the Scriptures according to that good counsell and example of some faithfull Doctors of the Primitiue Church We ought not saith S. Ierome inter cap. 9 on the 98. Psalme to follow the errors of our Fathers but the Scriptures authoritie and the commandements of God which â—nctruct vs. Euery other thing which shall be spoken after the Apostles time ought to bee cut off let it haue no authoritie then though the author thereof be holy or eloquent Reade me those things saith S. Austin in his booke of the Church chap. 6. in the Law in the Prophets in the Psalmes or in the Epistles reade them there and we will beleeue them All others saith he how holy or learned soeuer they be I may reade them not to beleeue what they say is true because they say it but in so much as they proue it by those canonicall authors or by probable reason And in his epistle to Fortunatus We ought not saith he to esteeme of all disputes though they proceed from praise worthie and catholike men as the canonicall Scripture but that in such a sort as is lawfull with the honour due vnto such men to gainsay them or to reiect some things in their writings if per aduenture we finde they iudged otherwise then stands with the truth found out through the helpe of God either by others or by our selues For I am such a one in the writings of other men as I would they should be in mine Doe not stand saith he in his preface of the third booke of the Trinitie vpon my words and writings as vpon the canonical Scripture What soeuer in them thou shalt finde beleeue it without doubting but in my writings that which thou holdest not for very certaine or if thou vnderstaÌ„dest it not hold it not as firme The like saith he of S. Cyprians bookes in his second booke against Crescon chap. 32. I hold not S. Cyprians bookes for canonicall that which agreeth with the authoritie of holy Scripture I receiue it with his praise but that which agreeth not with them I reiect by his good leaue and we doe him no wrong to make a distinction betweene his writings and the canonicall For this wholesome canon of the Church was not without cause established whereunto were brought certain bookes of the Prophets and Apostles which wee dare not at all iudge and according vnto which we freely iudge of all other bookes either of beleeuers or Infidels The like saith he also of S. Ieroms books of S. Ambroses and of the rest of the Fathers which haue written since the Apostles time in his epistle 112 and 11 booke against Faustus Manichean cap. 5. I would not bring in the opinions of those great personages lest thou shouldest thinke that it behoueth me to follow the iudgement of any man as the authoritie of the Scripture In all their bookes the reader or hearer hath a free iudgement to approue or reiect them without the necessitie of beleeuing them but with freedome to iudge thereof From thence it commeth that hee exhorteth Vincent his friend in his 48. epistle that hee should take heed of gathering against so many holy cleere and vndoubted testimonies some cauils out of the writings of the Bishops whether saith he of our owne or of Hilaries Cyprians or Agrippines for such writings ought to be distinguished from the authoritie of the canon for men reade them not so is it were to draw any testimonie from them contrary to which it should not be lawfull to deeme if peraduenture their opinion were otherwise then the truth requires Wherewith the sentences of our Fathers agree We haue no commandement frÌ„o Christ saith Iustine the Martyr in Triph. pag. 207 to beleeue in humane doctrines but in those which his Apostles haue preached and himselfe hath taught Therefore
euery man must haue his recourse to the Scriptures that he may finde assurance in all things Wee haue faith Irenaeus in his third booke chap. 1. knowne the disposition of our saluation by no others but by those by whom the Gospell is come vnto vs which in their time they also preached and afterward through the will of God haue giuen it to vs in the Scriptures to the intent it might be the pillar and foundation of our faith Againe Iustine the Martyr saith in his exposition of true faith that among the children of the Church diuine things ought not to be comprehended within humane reasons and discourses but that diuine words ought to be expounded according to the will instruction and doctrine of the holy Ghost S. Tertullian in like manner in his dispute touching the flesh of Iesus Christ saith I receiue not this which thou bringest of thine owne beside the Scripture if thou art Apostolicall then follow the Apostles doctrine Likewise S. Ierome in his Annot. vpon the fifth chapter of Saint Pauls Epistle to the Galathians saith plainly Nulli kne verbo dei esse credendum that is We must not giue beleefe to any one without the word of God Also S. Cyril which was Bishop of Ierusalem Cath. 4. saith That it is not necessarie to teach any thing rashly touching the secrets of faith without the holy Scripture If then I should teach thee these things simply and without any proofe beleeue me not vnlesse thou receiuest some demonstration thereof by the Scripture for the saluation of our faith proceedeth not from a well composed discourse but from the demonstration of diuine Scripture By these sentences our Fathers reduced themselues to the holy Scripture commanding vs seriously to examine their sayings and writings by them and if wee found them not agreeable and correspondent to that vniuersall rule of all sorts of Ecclesiasticall doctrines to hold them in suspition and without any difficultie to reiect them wherein wee cannot bee too rigorous seeing that S. Paul with his companions and the Angels make themselues subiect to that ballance saying in his epistle to the Galathians the first chapter and 8. verse Though that we or an Angel from heauen preach vnto you otherwise then that which we haue preached vnto you let him be accursed Whereupon the Abbat Vincent Lirinensis made an excellent obseruation in his Treatise of the holy Scriptures Canon chap. 22. That the Apostle S. Paul would spare no man no not himselfe nor Peter nor Andrew nor Iohn nor all the rest of the Apostles but hath denounced that all those which would publish beyond that which the Apostles haue published these are the Abbats very words should be accursed thereby to maintaine the first faith stedfastly and strictly Wherein according to the very iudgement of your owne Doctor Canus we do no wrong to our Fathers For hee confesseth freely in the Centur. 3. that al the Saints except those which haue written the canonicall bookes haue spoken by a humane spirit and at sometimes haue erred both in word and in writing euen in the points of faith what learning or innocencie soeuer wee might conceiue in them Behold therefore some of your Doctors make no bones to reproue our Fathers whensoeuer they are of an opinion that they are gone neuer so little astray from the naturall sense of the holy Scripture Without going any further Robert Bellarmine reiecteth the opinion of S. Austin expounding that which S. Luke writeth of the fruite of the vine and saith therein he hath not well obserued the Euangelist text Also he accuseth Durand and Rupert of error as appeareth by the 13. and 15. chapters of his third booke de Eucharistia Whereunto I will adde some of the ancient Fathers directly contrary to yours whereby they wholly reiect the inuocation of Saints as superstitious and hauing no ground in the holy Scripture To begin then with Ignatius the disciple of S. Iohn he giueth this exhortatiō to virgins in his sixth epistle to the Philadelphians Virgins set before your eyes in your prayers one only Iesus Christ and his Father being illuminated through his holy spirit And in his third epistle to the Magnesians Assemble together to pray in one place let your prayer be common one spirit one hope in charitie and faith without spot in Christ runne together as it were one man to the temple of Christ the high priest of God Also Eusebius reciteth in his historie lib. 4. cap. 14. that the other disciple of S. Iohn named Polycarpus being bound to a stake there to be burned for the name of Iesus Christ he calleth not to minde his master in Christ S. Iohn nor any of the Martyrs or holy men which had been before him to pray them to make intercession for him but hee prayed vnto God alone through Christ the only Mediatour and high Priest betweene the iustice of God and the sinnes of his people saying Father of Iesus Christ thy Sonne by whom we haue had knowledge of thee God of Angels and Powers God of euery creature and of all the righteous and of all sorts of races which liue before thy face I giue thankes that thou hast vouchsafed to grant vnto me this happie day and this blessed houre wherein I shall be in the number of the Martyrs and made partaker of the cup and passion of thy Christ vnto the resurrection of eternall life both in soule and body through the immortall vertue of thy holy spirit among which Martyrs I pray thee that I may be received before thy face as a fat and pleasant offering And for all these things I praise thee I blesse thee and I glorifie thee through Iesus Christ thy most deare Sonne and high priest through whom vnto thee with him and with thy holy spirit be glory now and for euermore Also this same Historian sheweth vs in his 4. booke and 14. chapter that the Iewes and Gentiles came to pray the Gouernour Nicetes not to deliuer the bodie of Polycarpus to the Christians lest in forsaking their Christ crucified they should religiously begin to honour him Whereunto the author answereth that these sillie superstitious men had therein through their ignorance deceiued themselues and considered not that true Christians can neuer forsake Iesus Christ who suffered for the saluation of the world neither will they honour religiously any other as God because they know the true God and him which alone as hee addeth ought to bee serued religiously Likewise Clement according to your opinion successor vnto the Apostle S. Peter teacheth vs in his recognitions and Apostolicall institutions that it is not lawfull for the Christians to pray vnto the departed as the Heathen did but that all our meditations and prayers ought to bee addressed onely vnto God and that no man is permitted to come vnto him but through his Sonne and our Aduocate Iesus Christ. Also Irenaeus testifieth in his second booke and 57. chapter
sure when any point of doctrine is to be disputed or of the true sense of some texts in the Bible then to hold our selues to Gods law which is a faithfull witnesse according to the counsell of the Prophet Esay chap 8. verse 20. to giue the exposition of the law of God in expounding it by the Scripture it selfe imitating the example of Esdras and some other Doctors of the old Testament which is represented by Nehemiah before our eies in the 8. chapter and 2. verse Euen so when a question is of the true rule and manner of prayer there is nothing more expedient then to follow in all our prayers that only forme of prayer which our Lord Iesus Christ taught his Apostles as S. Tertullian and S. Cyprian shew vs by their excellent discourses touching the excellencie and perfection of this prayer And S. Austin in his epistle which he wrote to a Christian widow called Proba Wee say no other thing saith he then that which is contained in the Lords Prayer if we pray rightly and conueniently And whosoeuer should say any thing which is not agreeable with this Euangelicall prayer though he prayeth not vnlawfully yet he prayeth carnally and I know no reason why but that one may say he prayeth vnlawfully sith that such as are regenerated by the holy Ghost ought to pray spiritually By which admonition S. Austin signifieth to all Christians that all prayers which haue not their foundation in the prayer of our Lord Iesus Christ as are such which be addressed to the Saints departed are carnall and vnlawfull But to returne to your obiections where you say that you â—et slip in silence the miracles done through the inuocation of Saints and yet you send vs to the 22 booke of the Citie of God and we send you back againe to that which wee haue formerly noted to wit that Viues testifieth that many sentences haue been annexed to that booke of the Citie of God and for that reason we ought to giue no beleefe thereunto But rather as Origen witnesseth vpon Ieremiah it behoueth vs to call for witnesses the holy Scriptures forasmuch as without those witnesses our sense and discourses are of no credit which S. Austin also giueth vs to vnderstand by this exhortation that whatsoeuer wee would haue men to beleeue we must proue it by cleere testimonies of holy Scripture and vse them against the enemies of the Church And if we should grant you that many miracles haue been done by the inuocation of Saints yet you cannot with a good conscience gather froÌ„ thence that this seruice was pleasing to God seeing that the false prophets and ministers of Satan haue sought to set vp their impieties through the lustre of many miracles Thereupon Moses aduertiseth the people of his time saying in Deut. â—3 1. If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreames and give thee a signe or wander and the signe and the wonder which he hath told thee come to passe saying Let vs go after other gods which thou hast not known 〈◊〉 let vs serue them Thou shalt not hearken vnto the words of that prophet or vnto that dreamer of dreames for the Lord your God proueth you to know whether you loue the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soule And Iesus Christ in the 24 of Matthew and 23 verse saith If any shall say vnto you loe here is Christ or there beleeue it not for there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders so that if it were possible they should deceiue the very elect Behold I haue told you before according to which Saint Paul writeth in the â— of Thesâ— 2. that the comming of the Sonne of perdition who sâ—â—ll sit as God in the temple of God and shall exalt himselfe against God and shall be by the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders and in all 〈◊〉 of vnrighteousnesse among them that 〈◊〉 Whereupon S. Austin grounding himselfe saith on the 9. Psalme That Antichrist shall vse force in his empire and deceit in his miracles And in the treatise of Antichrist which is added to his bookes Antichrist saith he shall rise vp against the elect by three manner of waies by terrors by gifts and by miracles And Chrysostome speaking of the false Doctors on the seuenth chapter of S. Matthew They cast forth diuels saith he in the name of Christ hauing the spirit of the enemie or they rather doe not cast them foorth but seeme to cast them foorth through the collusion which they haue with the diuels and so alwaies they cast them foorth and neuer doe heale The diuels euermore crie before them as if they were chastized and they neuer come foorth of them as though they were afraid Behold therefore Theophylact teacheth vs in the explication of the seuenth chapter of S. Luke and namely on the second verse that preaching is confirmed by miracles and miracles by preaching for oftentimes diuers haue done wonders by the diuels but their preaching was not sound therefore their miracles also were not of God Which Anselmus appropriating to the miracles of Antichrist in his Commentaries vpon the second Epistle to the Thessalonians and second chapter These signes and wonders saith he shall be lying either because they should deceiue the mortall through magicall visions or else because that although they should be wonders and prodigious signes yet they should draw vnto lies such as beleeue in them Moreouer Meses recounteth in the booke of Exodus that Pharaohs Magicians haue imitated and counterfeited many miracles which he formerly had done in the countrie of Egypt Also Hippocrates reciteth in his book de Morbo Sacro that some Sorcerers in his time healed many of the falling sicknesse in making sacrifices and certaine prayers because they would be reputed as holy personages The like writeth Bodin of Appolonius Thyaneus and of some other Sorcerers which chased away diuels and did many other wonders through fainednesse and collusion This is that also whereof the Emperour Charles the Great would aduertise vs by his third and fourth bookes made vnder his owne name and approued by Pope Adrians Legats and many other Bishops of France Germany and Italie which were present in the Councel of Frankford in the yeere 794. There is great danger saith he in many miracles because there may be in them some craft of that crooked Serpent which doth transfigure himself into an Angel of light for many miracles are done by those Angels reuolted by Powers or rather by spirituall subtilties which communicate to diuers miserable wretches the gift of prophecying and doe many strange things through their officers of which sort those shal be which shall say Lord Lord haue we not prophecied in thy name and haue wee not cast out diuels in thy name and by thy name done many great workes To whom the Iudge will
the Apostle S. Paul which was diuinely inspired into him but in the Bishops assembled in the Councels aboue said In confidence whereof I will come vnto the Councell of Nice which imposed three yeeres penance vpon the Christians who hauing abandoned their Armes afterward returned to the warres againe which rigour is condemned by S. Iohn Baptist who did not commaund souldiers to forsake their Armes but exhorteth them to content themselues with their payes and to demaund nothing beside that which was ordained for them The Fathers assembled in the Arelatan Councell haue prohibited the admitting of a married man into the vocation of the holy Ministerie by an article cleane contrarie to the 〈◊〉 the Apostle S. Paul who saith in the first Epistle to Tim. chap. 3. that a Bishop must be the husband of one wife The second Councell of Nice allowed the adoration and seruice of Images a fault which you will not correct to obey the second commandement of the Lord who saith in Exodus chapter 20. verses 4. 5. Thou shalt make thee no grauen Images neither any similitude of things that are in heauen aboue neither that are in the earth beneath nor that are in the waters vnder the earth thou shalt not bow downe to them neither serue them In the Lateran Councell which was held vnder Pope Innocentius the third it was decreed that men should beleeue that the bread and wine was changed into the substance of the bodie and blood of Iesus Christ by the vertue of these fiue words Hoc est enim corpus meum Which is a false opinion and easie to be ouerthrowne by many places of holy scripture and especially by the 11. chapter of Saint Pauls first Epistle to the Corinth where after he had recited the institution of the Lords Supper and treated of the consecration of the bread and wine by these very words of our Lord Iesus Christ This is my body c. he retaineth those same words of bread and wine For he saith as often as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cup ye shew the Lords death till he come Againe Whosoeuer shall eate this bread finally let a man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup. By which manner of speech he teacheth vs that there is no transubstantiation in the holy Supper but that the bread remaineth bread and the wine keepeth it owne naturall propertie They also which were present in the Councell of Toledo haue they not iudged that he which in stead of being espoused to any honest woman kept a concubine ought neuerthelesse not to bee cast out of the communion of the Lords Supper Doth not this sentence ouerthrow the institution of holy Matrimonie which by the Apostle S. Paul is called an vndefiled bed and honourable among all men Heb. 13. 4. Doth it not also fauour whoremongers which possesse the vessels of their bodie in dishonour and are condemned by God as well in the seuenth Commandement of his law as by many holie remonstrances of the Prophets and Apostles Moreouer the 72 Canon of the 6. generall Councel approued by Pope Adrian doth it not say that men ought to breake the promises of Mariage which the Catholikes haue made with heretikes and to hold them for nought as though they neuer had been made Is not this too too dangerous a Canon forged by the spirit of disloyaltie and dissension For the spirit of truth which guided the penne of the Apostle S. Paul doth it not signifie to vs in the first Epistle to the Corinthians the 7. chapter and 15. verse that God hath called the married in peace and that to entertaine and keep it If any brother haue a wife that beleeueth not if she be content to dwell with him he ought not to forsake her and if any woman hath an husband that beleeueth not if hee be content to dwell with her she ought not to forsake him neither Whereunto the Apostle addeth this reason as most worthy of consideration namely the vnbeleeuing husband is sanctified by the wife and the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified by the husband and that through this coniunction their children are holy which else would be vncleane The Councell of Wormes abusing that admonition of the Apostle S. Paul in the 1. Epistle to the Cor. chap. 11. 28 where he saith Let a man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup thought it a matter of no moment to admit theeues and other scandalous persons vnto the Lords holy table vpon the trial and testimonie of their owne consciences These are the Councels very words It oftentimes happeneth that the Monkes in their Cloisters doe commit some crime of theft behold wee therefore iudge that these brethren being accused of such a fact ought to cleere themselues thereof and ordaine to this effect that the Abbat or some one among them of their brethren celebrate the Masse and that all trying and prouing themselues doe participate the same And in another Canon If any one hath charged the Bishop or Priest with some mischieuous deed he ought to celebrate the Masse and to shew thereby that he knowes himselfe innocent and guiltlesse of that crime which is laid vnto his charge This canon hath not only been approued but also put in practise by Pope Gregory the seuenth named before his popedome Hildebrand who being aduertised by letters that he was accused of sorcerie and simonicall heresie answered that to satisfie euery man according to that good canon of the Councell of Wormes and to take away that scandalous report of him out of y e Catholike Church he would receiue the body of our Lord in token of his innocencie True it is that afterward as Bellarmine writeth the Bishops thought good to abolish that pernicious canon whereby their predecessors had prostituted the communion of the bodie and blood of our Lord Iesus Christ to all sorts of leaud persons to be vnworthily trampled vnder their feete and prophaned But Bellarmine notwithstanding is driuen to confesse so much that it was receiued and allowed for some time in your Church To come now vnto the errors of some other Councels The Councels of Carthage and of Florence haue inrolled for canonicall bookes and as diuinely inspired to serue all men in the points of religion for a rule and as a law for their discourses the bookes of Tobit Iudith Wisedome Ecclesiasticus and the Maccabees which neuerthelesse according to Cardinall Caietans owne confession are accounted by S. Ierome among the Apocrypha and not receiueable for to ground vpon them any article of faith and to the end the Reader may not be troubled in that the abouesaid Councels and the Popes Innocentius and Gelasius haue reckoned these bookes among the Canonicall the said Cardinall giueth him this counsell in his obseruations vpon the tenth chapter of Ester to reduce them to the rule and correction of
his Annotations vpon the 17 chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Now as for that which you cite out of the 7. chapter of his said booke he himselfe expoundeth it and exhorteth the faithfull to seeke after not the Saints departed but the Saints conuersant in this world to make request for them I iudge saith he with the diuine Scriptures that the prayers of the Saints in this life are very profitable and in this manner to wit if any man desire diuine gifts and acknowledging his simplicitie and infirmitie let him go finde out some holy personage and pray him to assist and succour him through his prayers I grant you that hee recounteth in the third chapter of the same booke that they made mention of the Saints departed when they celebrated the Sacrament of the vnion of Iesus Christ with his members because they are one part of the Catholike Church and of the companie of those which are elected to eternall life But there is a great difference betweene the recitall of the vertues of the Saints deceased this world and the inuocation of them And you will not shew vs that S. Denys propounding to vs the end wherefore mention is made of their good liues doth there speake of the inuocation of Saints but of the imitation of their godlinesse and perseuerance in the Christian faith saying that they prayed those which holily and religiously had liued in this world to the end that their suruiuers might by their examples learne to liue and die well in God and might bee admonished that they which die in him liue out of this world in a better life and that God hath them in his memorie according as it is written That God knoweth such as are his and that the death of the Saints is precious before him Secondly you produce the comparison which S. Irenaeus maketh betweene Eue and the Virgin Mary in his 5. booke and 16. chapter I wonder why you represent not heere vnto vs S. Irenaeus words which according to Bellarmines iudgement doe cleerely shew that S. Irenaeus beleeued and taught that the Virgin Mary ought to be adored by vs as an Aduocatesse of our first Mother Eue towards God Therefore to encounter you with your owne weapons I will here make S. Irenaeus to speake As Eue saith he was seduced by the words of the wicked angel to flie from God in transgressing his word so the Virgin Mary receiued the good tidings by the word of an angel to beare God in being obedient to his word and as this Eue was seduced to flie from God so was this Mary perswaded to obey him to the intent that the Virgin Mary might be made an Aduocatesse of the Virgin Eue. What man is it that perceiueth not that by this comparison S. Irenaeus opposeth the male diction come vpon all mankinde through Euâ—s transgression to the blessing which afterward is come to them by the faith and obedience of the Virgin Mary Touching this word Aduocatesse from whence Bellarmine draweth his argument against vs yee know well that it commeth not from Irenaeus who wrote in Greek but from the translator of his booke And albeit yee may take heere this name for a Mediatrix yet you are not ignorant that this Greeke word paracletos signifieth sometimes also a Comforter and is so interpreted by S. Tertullian and many others of the Fathers by the name of an aduocate in the same signification as appeareth by the translation of those which haue traÌ„slated the promise of our Lord Iesus Christ described by S. Iohn in his 14. chapter and 16. verse I will pray the Father and hee will giue you another Aduocate that is to say another Comforter So whosoeuer will take heed vnto the meaning of Irenaeus and his translator and to the proper signification of this name Aduocate in this place shall perceiue that the author meant to say no other thing but that the Virgin Mary was chosen by God to beare the Redeemer of the world and brought foorth the Consolation to Eue according to the promise which God made to her in paradise that the seed of the woman should breake the head of the Serpent who had seduced her Thirdly you are not ashamed to vtter the Sermon of the Virgin Mother of God imprinted vnder the name of Saint Athanasius calling the Virgin Mary Lady Mother Regeneratrix and Mistris saying besides Incline thine eare to our prayers and forget not thy people wee crie vnto thee haue remembrance of vs c. An euident signe either that you haue not read the first volume of his writings wherein he sheweth by many examples and testimonies of the Bible that none ought to haue his refuge neither to the Angels nor any humane creature but only to God through the addresse of his Sonne Iesus Christ or if you haue read them that you make lesse account of his first volume which was approued and receiued by the ancient Church then of the third which containeth as you confesse this prayer made to the Virgin Mary In which volume to conuict you by your owne Doctors Petrus Nannius Professor in the Vniuersitie of Louain hath annexed a preface whereby hee aduertiseth the reader that hee hath put into this second tome the bookes suspected of falsehood and which according to his judgement were not composed by S. Athanasius Fourthly you cite the prayer which S. Basil made to the fortie Martyrs and you annex to it false Glosses and interpretations For S. Basil commandeth not there the Christians as you affirme to haue there recourse vnto these holy Martyrs nor to call vpon them but declareth in commendations of those Martyrs what they did in his time He which is saith he in affliction goeth to those fortie Martyrs he which is in ioy runneth to them O what audaciousnesse is it to belie a Historie and to make of a simple declaration of the custome of the vulgar people an expresse exhortation and what an impudencie is it to dare to impose that vpon this holy Father which neuer he thought to say His intention was not so as to stirre vp the hearts of his auditorie to inuocate these Martyrs but admonisheth them contrariwise to moue one another through the remembrance of the Saints to imitate their zeale and to worship and implore God in the assembliâ— of many to appease him and to render him thanks for his benefits and to edifie each other by sermons of exhortation You alleage more faithfully the words of the 16. Homily made by S. Chrysostome to the people of Antioch where S. Chrysostome speaking of the manner of the common people to celebrate the memorie of the Martyrs and to make their prayers vnto God neere vnto their graues The Emperour saith he which is arraiâ—d in purple goeth to the sepulchrâ—â— that is of the Martyrs and laying aside all pompe and magnificence presenteth himselfe to supplicate the Saints to make intercession vnto God for him and he which beareth
answere I neuer knew you To this end also S. Gregorie Bishop of Rome saith Because oft times miracles are done through the inspiration of the diuell my brethren loue not those signes as are common with the reprobate And S. Austin saith The diuels doe miracles like vnto those which were done by the seruants of God c. Considering therefore that the wicked Spirit hath often times done miracles among the Iewes and Gentiles and that it was foretold that Antichrist and his supporters shall in great number doe them in the latter daies to establish their errors and seduce the elect of God if it were possible it is a follie in you to conclude that the miracles done through the inuocation of the departed Saints is a seruice pure and approued by God But to reproue the course of your fine discourse adorned with this figure of preuention There is one thing will some man say which troubleth much these heretikes and what is it how they cannot vnderstand nor imagine that the Saints doe heare vs affirming that it is vnpossible for a man praying beneath on earth to be heard of the departed Saints into heauen Which according to the scope of your writing is the second point which wee haue yet to examine It were to be wished that in this examination you were more discreet and sincere You consider not that in tearming vs heretikes because we will not beleeue that the Saints deceased vnderstand and heare the prayers of those which call vpon them you also reproue Salomon the wise of heresie who teacheth vs in the first booke of Kings and 8. chapter that there is none but God only who knoweth the hearts of all men and that that is one of the principall causes wherefore we should call vpon him and to expect from him alone the accomplishment of our desires Lord saith he what prayer and supplication soeuer shall be made of any man or of all thy people Israel when euery one shall know the plague in his owne heart and stretch foorth his hand in this house Heare thou then in heauen in thy dwelling place and be mercifull and doe and giue euery man according to all his waies as thou knowest his heart for thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men Moreouer in stead of speaking seriously you at your pleasure flout at Caluin and our arguments You say that our strongest arguments and that which we most set by is that which wee hold from our Captaine Caluin who asketh you in the third booke of his Institutions chap. 20. sect 24. Who hath reuealed to you this secret that the departed Saints haue so long eares to stretch them downe vnto your words and so sharp eyes that they can behold your necessities It is maruell that you who so diligently set foorth your tongue with the colours of Rhetorique vnderstand not that hee maketh this demaund of you by an Ironia or manner of mockage and laugheth at your foolish imagination that the Saints which are aboue in heauen heare and see what is done here beneath on earth For without searching any further Caluin confesseth in that very section that the soules of the blessed albeit they are separated from their bodies and vse no more the instruments of eyes and eares yet vnderstand many things which concerne the aduancement of the glorie of God and his kingdome Yea and that they seeke it with a setled and vnmoued will which may bee proued by some texts out of the Bible but hee condemneth the boldnesse of your Sophists who without any testimonie of holie Scripture dare affirme that the brightnesse of Gods face is so great that in the contemplation thereof the Saints may behold as in a mirrour the things which in this world do happen But whilest you bark against this demand of Caluins you dissemble our arguments and accuse your selues of falsehood and deliberate malice seeing you vaunt that you haue read the writings of our Ministers and haue therein obserued the reasons which they propound against the second point of your doctrine If it be true that you haue perused the principall reasons of our Pastors why then do you let passe in silence that which they haue drawne out of the fountaine of the holy Scriptures and namely in the 9. chapter of Ecclesiastes vers 6. That the loue and the hatred of the dead is now perished and they haue no more portion for euer in all that is done vnder the Sunne And in the 63. chapter of Esay and 16. verse Lord thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of vs and Israel know vs not Whereupon this argument of our Teachers is grounded The holy Scripture manifestly instructeth vs in those aboue said texts y ◠the Saints deceased this world haue no more portion in the things which are done vnder the cope of heauen nor any knowledge of our affaires Therfore it is a folly in them which yet walk in this vaile of miserie to call vpon them But to proceed on with the course of your inuectiue you say that the disciples of Caluin and Luther to shew themselues wiser then their Masters haue begun since that to demaund of the Catholiques some expresse texts and examples taken out of the holy Scripture whereby it might appeare that the Saints aboue in Paradise vnderstand heare our prayers Whereunto I replie that Luther and Caluin haue not required of you any expresse texts by the which it might appeare that the deceased Saints heare our Prayers because they knew exceeding well that there could not be found for it so much as one only word in the Word of God For what saith Caluin thereof in his 3. booke and 20. chapter sect 21 What angell or diuell euer reueiled to any man any one syllable of this intercessiō of Saints which these men haue forged For in the Scripture there is nothing said thereof What reason had he then to seeke it there And as for vs which are none of Luthers or Caluins disciples but Christs wee require of you some proofes taken out of the marrow of the holy Scripture not for that wee thinke it is possible for you but because wee might haue the greater occasion to confute you of leasing euen by your own consciences And when all is said and when we come to that ye feare the blowes to saue your selues from them you answere vs reciprocally by a demaund whether wee can proue our negatiue by some text to wit that the Scripture teacheth vs not that the Saints which are in heauen can heare our prayers In your inuectiue against Caluin you reproch him in that hee wanteth Philosophie but herein I may rebuke you by an argument farre more forcible that you haue not learned the lawes Dialecticae that is of Logick which teacheth vs Quod affirmanti incumbat probatio to wit that he which affirmeth any thing is bound to proue his affirmation So it is
S. Ierome Charles the Great speaking of the two Councels of Constantinople and of Nice in a book made at the Councel of Franckford touching the adoration of Images blameth the Councell of Nice of impietie and idolatrie forbidden by God in his holy word when he complaineth that not only the Kings of the Easterne prouinces but also the Priests and Prelates reiecting that which is said by the Apostle that if any one preach otherwise then that which hath been preached though he were an Angel from heauen let him be accursed haue sought to bring into the Church through Councels fond and infamous things one knowes not what which neither the Sauiour nor any of his Apostles haue euer brought in that is as hee himselfe expoundeth them Nouelties of words and the foolish inuention of the worshipping of Images and afterward hee rebuketh the temeritie and boldnes of Irene mother vnto Constantine the Emperour in that she had borne the chiefe sway in that Councell of Nice saying The Empresse did there all in all a woman vnto whom it was forbidden to teach in the Church hath taught and ordained she there intruded her selfe with the Bishops and all Ecclesiasticall Orders teaching things vnprofitable Thirdly he accuseth that Councell in that they admitted thereunto Tharasius Patriarch of Constantinople and gaue too much credit vnto him who as he speaketh was at a iumpe come from the vulgar conuersation into the dignitie of Priesthood from the life of a Souldier to a religious life from the noise of the market to the preaching and distributing of holy mysteries and that in summe hee was of an ill iudgement and spake not well concerning the holie Ghost Whereunto hee addeth beside that for the rest of all this Councell they were ignorant barbarous insufficient fond and vnapt both in their sense and in their words and neuerthelesse proud beyond all pride which durst command that which neuer the Apostles nor their successors ordained and in one part of the Church to condemne and accurse all the Churches in the world which he proueth in that they made it to bee called a vniuersall Councell held for the worshipping of Images without the consent of many other faithfull and Catholike Churches of God and were so audacious euen rashly to accurse so many and so great Churches which are the body of Iesus Christ and to attempt to establish the worship and seruice of insensible things against the institution of diuine scripture Now like as Charles the Great who was present in the aforesaid Councell of Franckford assaulted the Councel of Nice so likewise S. Austin with many other of the ancient Fathers haue reprooued oftentimes the writings of their companions in the work of the Lord and the ordinance of their Councels in calling them back to be tried by the holy Scripture and admonishing them that through many of their false conclusions they were gone astray from the same which S. Austin testifieth in his second booke and third chapter of Baptisme against the Donatists The Epistles saith he of the particular Bishops are corrected by the Prouinciall Councels and the Prouinciall Councels by the vniuersall and the first vniuersall Councels by the latter when by experience that which was locked is opened and that which was hid is brought into light This is the cause wherefore one Councell hath oftentimes retracted and repealed that which a former had decreed As for example the generall Councell of Nice permitted the Priests to marrie which afterward the Councels of Neccesarea of Magence and the second of Carthage forbad them to do The Councell of Carthage in which S. Cyprian was present decreed that such as were baptized by Heretikes should be rebaptized which was shortly after broken and disanulled by another Councell of Carthage The second generall Councell of Ephesus approoued the error of Euryches who acknowledged but one only nature in Christ to wit the diuine but the general Councel of Chalcedon refuted and condemned that heresie You are not ignorant also how the Bracharean Councell condemned and accursed those which abstaine themselues from eating of flesh and how the third Councell of Toledo hauing confirmed that decree the cleane contrarie was ordained by the Councell of Rome forbidding the vse of flesh vpon certaine daies i the yeere The Councell of Constantinople decreed that they should throw and breake downe all the Images which were put vp in Churches but this ordinance and decree was ouer throwne againe by the second Councell of Nice assembled by Irene mother vnto Constantine the Emperour in which was commanded to reestablish and set vp those Images againe These examples may suffice to shew that Councels may erre and that oftentimes there hath been great dissension betweene Councels and contrarietie in the articles of the ancient Synods and that many things haue been proposed receiued and maintained in them without and beside the holy scripture which as S. Tertullian saith in his Treatise against Praxeas is not in danger of saying things contrarie but alwaies is consonant and agreeth in it selfe as appeareth by the mutuall correspondencie of the texts aswell of the old as of the new Testament which is alone without error and exempt froÌ„ lying as Cardinall Baronius also himselfe teacheth you in his Annals tom 2. This warre and manifest contradiction of the ancient Councels doth it not aduertise vs as it were of it selfe that we ought not to equall the canons of Councels with the rules of holy Scripture and yet neuerthelesse your ancestors haue done it who haue equalled the decretall epistles of their Popes with the epistles of the Apostle S. Paul and the decrees of the foure Councels of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon with the bookes of the foure Euangelists Now in this great diuersitie of Councels to which I pray you shall we haue our recourse to assure our consciences but to the word of God which is the touchstone and ballance whereby wee must proue and weigh all the traditions of men As S. Austin did in his dispute against Maximine Bishop of the Arrians lib. 3. cap. 3. I ought not to alleage saith he the Councel of Nice thereby to preiudice thee nor thou against me that of Rimini I am not bound nor tied vnto the authoritie of that Councel ner thou vnto the other It is by the authoritie of the Scriptures which are not partâ—all to either of vs but are common witnesses aswell to the one as to the other and that by them we ought to dispute in alleaging cause against cause and reason against reason According to which rule S. Bernard in his 9â— Epistle signified to the Bishops which in his time were assembled to handle ecclesiasticall affaires that he was very desirous to be present in their Councell and in their assemblies where the traditions of men were not obstmatelâ— maintained nor superstitiously obserued but where the good and persit will of God was sought after in all humilitie and diligence there am I