the least and the Authority of the Church it self as to the Ground and Foundation of it is chiefly deduced from the Gospel Nay the very Institution Power and Edification of the Church can no way so expresly and certainly be known as from the Gospel But as I imagin it can by no method be so certainly determined whether the Church or the Gospel be of greater Authority as by supposing this Case when the Church defineth any thing contrary to the Gospel I know indeed that this cannot be This is to be understood of the Belief and received Doctrine of the Universal Church not of the Decrees of the Representative Church Otherwise Clemangis will most foolishly contradict himself However that we may the better find out the truth let us put this Case Do you imagin that in that case S. Augustin would have rejected the Doctrine of the Gospel and adhered to the Definition of the Church No surely Where he proceeds at large to urge this Argument and thereby to assert the Superiority of the Scriptures Authority to that of the Church Before the middle of this Century flourished Thomas Waldensis Provincial of the Carmelites and Confessor to two Kings of England Henry V. and Henry VI. successively generally accounted the most Learned English Man of his Age and the great Champion of the Papal Cause against the Lollards and other supposed Hereticks of his time against whom he writ a large and elaborate Work which was in a particular manner confirmed and approved by a special Bull of Pope Martin V. Therein proposing an intire System of Divinity he layeth down the Sufficiency of Scripture as a most certain Principle in three whole Chapters out of which I will produce some few Passages Disputing therefore of all Articles necessary to be believed and the complete System of Christian Faith he useth these words They who yet believe the Canon of Scripture to be imperfect and that it may yet be augmented by the Authority of the Church do yet with the Iews expect the fulness of time perhaps under a Iewish Messias He then takes notice of that famous Passage of S. Augustin I would not believe the Gospel unless the Authority of the Catholick Church perswaded me And giveth this Answer to it I do not approve the arrogance of some Writers who upon occasion of this place maintain the Decrees of Bishops in the Church to be of greater Weight Authority and Dignity than is the Authority of the Scriptures Which indeed seemeth not so foolish as mad unless such an one would say Philip were greater than Christ when he induced Nathanael to believe that Christ was he of whom Moses writ in the Law and the Prophets although without his Authority or Admonition he would not have at that time perceived it All Ecclesiastical Authority since it serveth only to bear testimony of Christ and of his Laws is of less Dignity than the Laws of Christ and must necessarily submit to the Holy Scriptures Well therefore did S. Thomas Aquinas allegorize when he introduced the Samaritan Woman to represent the universal Church which Woman when the Citizens of Samaria heard preaching Christ they were induced to believe on him c. This Passage clearly represents to us the Opinion of Waldensis to have been that by the attestation of the Church the Divine Authority of the Scripture is known which being once known all matters of Belief and Articles of Faith are to be learned from the Scripture just as Philip induced Nathanael and the Samaritan Woman her Neighbours to believe Christ to be a Divine Person of the truth of which when once satisfied they learned not the Rules of Life or Articles of Faith from Philip or the Woman but received both from Christ himself And therefore Waldensis subjoyns That the Authority of the Scripture is far superior to the Authority of all Doctors even of the whole Catholick Church and that although the Catholick Church should attest and confirm their Authority that the Authority of all latter Men following the Apostles and Churches ought to be submitted to the Authority of the holy Canon even to its Footstool That the former is subjected to the latter as a Witness to a Iudge and a testimony to the truth as a promulgation to a Law and as an Herald to a King. As a testimony therefore is no farther to be regarded than as it is true a promulgation invalid when it either increaseth or mutilates the Law and an Herald not to be obeyed when he exceeds the Commission of the King so the Decrees Definitions and Doctrines of the Church are no longer to be respected than as they are exactly conformable to the Scripture and deduced from it Upon this account Waldensis teacheth in the next Chapter That the Church cannot superadd any new Articles of Faith to the Scripture and that the Faith from the times of John the Evangelist who writ the last Book of Scripture receiveth no increase And therefore applieth to the Books of Canonical Scripture the measure of the new City of God made by the Angel in the XXI Chapter of the Revelations That as the circuit of that City consisted of so many miles neither more nor less so the whole System of Christian Faith and Divine Revelations is completed and contained in so many Books of Scripture and can receive no farther Addition Lastly shewing how many ways the Knowledge of the Catholick Truth may be attained he saith It may be obtained best of all and most certainly from the Canonical Scripture He proceeds to prove this from the Authority of S. Augustin and then concludes See four ways of coming to the undoubted Truth but more or less certain of which the first and most certain is by the Holy Scriptures the rest begetting only an Historical and uncertain knowledge of the Articles of Religion However these Doctors already mentioned were of great authority and sufficiently declare the common Doctrine of the Church in their time yet the practice and judgment of General Councils will give us greater assurance of it Two General Councils were held at the same time in this Age the one at Basil the other at Florence In both together the whole Western Church was present by its Representatives and in that of Florence the Eastern also These two Councils indeed thundered out Excommunications one against the other yet both agreed in using Scripture as the Rule of their Definitions and in all Disputations laid that down as a common uncontroverted Principle I begin with the Council of Basil wherein Iohannes de Ragusio a Learned Dominican by the appointment of the Bishops disputed publickly in the year 1433. against the Bohemians about Communion under both kinds Here magnifying the Authority of the Church he urgeth this Argument chiefly that without the Attestation of the Church the Divine Authority of the Scripture cannot be known and consequently that the Authority of the Church is antecedent to the knowledge even
Treatise which I now publish require me to descend lower and demonstrate that even in latter Ages it was the commonly received Opinion of the Church that Scripture is the Rule of Faith. And this alone will as evidently overthrow the Plea of Tradition as if the Consent of all Ages herein were demonstrated For since Tradition is the perpetual Succession of any Doctrine conveyed down in the Church by word of mouth from the Apostles to this present time if this Succession were in any Age whatsoever interrupted it can no more claim the Title of Tradition than if it had never been believed So that if it can be proved the Doctrine of Tradition being the Rule of Faith was in any Age of the Church disbelieved not only the proof of this Article from Tradition will fail but even the Article it self will appear to be evidently false For it is not possible that Tradition should be the Rule of Faith if that very Article that Tradition is the Rule of Faith were not delivered down by an uninterrupted succession of Belief for then it would not be the Rule of that very Article Besides it is absurd that the Church of any Age should have power of declaring what the Tradition of Faith is and consequently of fixing the Rule of Faith and yet be so far from being conscious of any such power inherent in her that she disbelieved it Not to say that if at any time Tradition was not believed by the Church to be the Rule of Faith and yet at the same time divers Articles of Faith were defined by the Church Tradition must necessarily ever since have ceased to be the Rule of Faith since otherwise all Definitions of the Church must indifferently be admitted made by her both when she followed and when she deviated from the Rule of Faith and consequently the Faith of all private Christians must be subjected to infinite uncertainty Now to prove that the Tradition of this Article was in any Age of the Church interrupted and discontinued it is not necessary that all members of the Church should then agree in the disbelief of it that no Doctors should believe Tradition to be the Rule of Faith or none maintain the Insufficiency of Scripture It is sufficient that some Divines of great name who lived and died in the Communion of the Church were ever held in great esteem both for Piety and Learning and never censured by the Church for any erroneous Opinions much less for Hereticks that some such I say disbelieved this Article and maintained Scripture to be the Rule of Faith. For if any such were then the contrary Opinion could not be the belief of the universal Church much less an Article of Faith. That there were such Doctors I shall immediately prove by producing their own Words and thereby demonstrate my intended purpose And not only so but farther shall therewith render it highly probable that it was the generally received Opinion of the Church at that time that Scripture not Tradition is the Rule of Faith by all those Arguments which a question of this Nature will admit I mean by the authority of the most eminent Writers and publick practice of the Church in Councils For it cannot be imagined that so many Learned Persons esteemed as it were the Oracles of their Times and Pillars of the Church should either be ignorant of the Doctrine of the Church touching the Fundamental Principle of Faith or if willfully opposing it should obtain or conserve to themselves so great a Reputation or that the General Councils of that time should in their Sessions and Disputations permit the Sufficiency of Scripture to be laid down as an uncontroverted Principle without giving some check to so grand an Error That the Church therefore in the fifteenth Age did generally believe the Scripture to be the Rule of Faith and contain all things necessary to Salvation may be evidently demonstrated from this Treatise which I now publish The Author of which was far the most Eminent and Learned Bishop of the Church of England in his time a person who as himself assures us had spent more than twenty years in writing Controversial Books against the Lollards when he composed this Treatise and who every where giveth manifest proof of his great Learning So eminent a person cannot be supposed to have been ignorant of the general Belief of the Church in his time concerning the Rule of Faith nor will his apparent zeal for the Interest of the Church permit us to believe that he wilfully opposed the Doctrine of the Church in whose Service he employed the greatest part of his life or that when he so zealously pleaded the Cause of the Church against the Lollards he should himself depart from the Church in her principal Article and therein become a Lollard Since therefore he plainly asserts and teacheth that Scripture is the Rule of Faith this undeniably proves that the belief of this Proposition was not in the time of our Author accounted any part of Lollardism or supposed Heresie but rather esteemed an Article of Catholick Belief at least an Article which might be freely disputed without violating the Definitions or dissenting from the universal Belief of the Church And indeed our Author in the beginning of this Discourse assureth us that the Doctors of his time disagreed in determining whether the Church or Scripture were chiefly to be respected in the resolution of Faith. One thing may be objected against the Authority of our Author That he was forced by the ruling Clergy to recant several Opinions and Doctrines taught by him as erroneous and consequently that he cannot be esteemed a Doctor of the Church But here not to say that the sentence of two or three partial Bishops for no more condemned him is not to be accounted the Judgment of the Church of England this very Recantation addeth no small strength to our Argument For when the malice of his Enemies obliged him to recant all those Doctrines which they esteemed to be erroneous they took no notice of his having asserted Scripture to be the only Rule of Faith nor obliged him to recant that Proposition a manifest Argument that it was not then accounted either heretical or erroneous or contrary to the received Doctrine of the Church since otherwise they would not have failed to place it in the front of his Recantation as an Error of an higher degree and greater contagion than any of those for which he stood condemned which in truth were so far from being Heresies that they were all at that time maintained by many eminent Divines who never were censured by the Church and some of them so far true that no Learned Man of the Church of Rome will at this day deny them And this also fully clears our Author from any suspicion of Lollardism or secret inclination to it That he was not singular herein defended no Paradox nor opposed any Doctrine of the Church I come next to prove The
all points in Controversie between the Church of Rome and the Lollards and largely endeavours to confute the latter But as his zeal induced him to plead the Cause of the Church so copiously so his Learning enabled him to discover the Follies and gross Superstitions practised in that Age which when once discovered his Piety inforced him to detest Religion had now passed through so many ignorant and barbarous Ages the means of greaterknowledge had been so studiously hidden from the People and the ignorance of the Laity was so advantageous to the interest of the Clergy that the true Spirit of Christianity seemed to be wholly lost and had degenerated into Shews and Ceremonies many of which were unlawful but almost all unuseful And not only this fatal stupidity and idle Superstition had generally possessed the minds of Men but all Remedies were detested and all Artifices made use of to continue the Disease Many good and Learned Men endeavoured the Reformation of these Abuses without departing from the Communion of the Church but were attended herein with the usual Fate of the Opposers of inveterate Evils who seldom escape the Persecution but never the hatred of those who are engaged both by zeal and interest in the continuance of those Evils Our Learned Bishop was of the number of those brave and generous persons who while he earnestly invited the Lollards into the Communion of his Church no less vehemently opposed the Superstitions of his own Party Some Footsteps and Marks of this Disposition may be found in this Treatise which prove his Integrity to have been equal to his Zeal and neither inferior to his Learning The Authority of the Church and Infallibility of her Definitions had of late been set up as the most successful Engine against the prevailing growth of supposed Hereticks To refute the Arguments of Wicleff and convince his Followers with solid Reasons neither the Ignorance of the Clergy nor the Badness of their Cause did then permit It was accounted too great a Condescension in the Governors of the Church to confute the Mistakes and inform the Judgments of their seduced People Yet somewhat at least was necessary to dazle the eyes of the unthinking multitude and at once convict all their Adversaries of the Charge of Heresie Nothing could be more effectual to this end than the pretence of Infallibility which alone might satisfie the Scruples and command the assent of credulous persons For this reason ever since Heresie began to be punished with death it was thought sufficient to oppose the Infallibility of the Church to the Arguments and Reasons of condemned Hereticks and the maintenance of this pretence was esteemed the great Bulwark of the Church However our Bishop easily discovered the vanity of these pretences and in this followed the Opinion of the most Learned Writers of his Age that the Representative Church or General Councils were not only fallible but had sometimes actually erred that the Decrees and Definitions of the Church ought to be submitted to the Examination of every private person that no Article of Faith was to be received which was repugnant to the Principles of Reason and that not the Belief and Acceptation of the Church caused any Doctrin to be accounted true and an Article of Faith but the presupposed Truth of the Doctrine rendred the Belief of it rational and justifiable Indeed the Doctrine of the Churches Infallibility had by some Men in this Age been advanced so far that nothing less than a fatal credulity or no less fatal ignorance could excuse the admission of it Our Author assureth us in the first part of this Book of Faith that many Divines in his time argued from those words of S. Paul If we or an Angel from Heaven should teach any other Dâ—ctrine than that which ye have received let him be anathema that if it should happen that the Church militant and the Church triumphant disagreed in an Article of Faith the Determination of the Church militant were rather to be followed Such crude Positions might raise the admiration of fools but deserved the indignation of wiser Men. Our Author chose to do justice unto Truth in owning and asserting the Fallibility of Church and Councils and yet not to quit the specious pretence of the Churches authority in pleading her Cause and confuting the Lollards This therefore he proposed in a more plausible way confessed the Church might err and that even in matters of the greatest moment however that it would be most safe and rational for ignorant Laymen intirely to submit their judgment to the Direction of the Clergy that by this submission indeed they might possibly be led into Error and mortal Heresie but that this would be no disadvantage to them since in that case God would reward their submission and docility although to them the occasion of most grievous Errors no less than if they believed the Christian Faith intire and incorrupted and would even bestow upon them the Crown of Martyrdom if they laid down their lives in testimony of their Errors And since in that Age the Laity were generally very ignorant of the true Principles of Religion and devoid of all sort of Learning he included them all in the number of those whose duty and interest it was to pay an implicit submission to the direction of the Clergy But not only did he disown the Infallibility of the Church but also disallowed and condemned her practice of burning Hereticks He desired rather to win them to her obedience by gentle methods and thought it more noble to convince them by Reasons and Arguments than by Racks and Fires This moderation could not but displease his Fellow Bishops who chose rather at that time to satisfie their Malice by the punishment than serve the Church by the conviction of supposed Hereticks But our Author was acted with more noble and generous Principles he endeavoured to remove their Errors but refused to practise upon their Lives and which perhaps was no small part of his Crime neglected to thunder out his Curses against them and scorned to treat them with opprobrious Titles Rather in the first part of this Work he giveth to them an honourable Character and confesseth them to have been generally persons of good Lives and exemplary Conversations The incredible Fables of Legends and incurable itch of Lying for the Honor of their Saints and Patrons which then reigned among all the Monastick Orders and was fondly received by the credulous multitude were one of the greatest scandals and most pernicious abuses in the Church at that time The greater and more necessary Articles of Faith and all genuine and rational knowledge of Religion had generally given place to fabulous Legends and Romantick Stories Fables which in this respect only differed from those of the ancient Heathen Poets that they were more incredible and less elegant These our Learned Bishop feared not to oppose and disesteem arraigns them of Error Heresie and Superstition proclaims their falseness and
Churche is principalier and cheefer than is holi Writt anentis eny feith taugt by holi Writt and that for VIII Argumentis which y can make thereto Wherefore y donte not but that trouble and discencioun schulen be bitiwixe Lay Men and Clerkis yhe and bitwixe summe Clerkis and othre Clerkis upon this whether holi Writt or the Churche is chefir and of more power havyng anentis feith is conteynyd in holy Writ ni lasse thanne ye Fadir answer to thilke VIII Argumentis and so y can not se but that the mater of this discencioun muste nedis be brougte forth in utteraunce and conicacioun Sone y am redi to heere thi VIII Argumentis and for to answere to them yf I can Peraventure in the answering to them schal growe in sum thing wherebi schal be clerid what comparisoun is to be hadde bitwixe holi Writt and the Churche anentis al feith conteynyd in holi Writt And bi so moche y am the leefir for to heere thi Argumentis and for to answere to them bi hou moche thou hast now seid and trouthe is that the treuthe which is now occasioun of the comparisoun making bitwixe holi Writte and the Churche mygte not be left unseid and untoold to the Lay Peple neither to Clerkis And that cause bifore bi thee alleggid Fadir agens this which ye hau allowid bifore in the X. Chapter to be trewe that holi Writt is such a ground and foundement of oure Cristen general Feith that noon gretter or bettir or surer to us ground or foundament is for oure Cristen general Feith written in holi Writt y may argue by VIII principal Argumentis of which this is the first Nothing is to be seid ground to us of oure feith without which thing oure feith mygte have be sufficientli groundid and witnissid But without Holi Scripture now had Feith mygte habe be to us sufficiently groundid Wherfore holi Scripture is not to be seid ground of another thing without which the othre thing may be and the seconde premysse is to be proved thus Thoug the Apostlis hadde not write eny word yet thei mygten have taugt to othre Clerkis and lay folke the al ful hool feith sufficientli to thbihove of the peple as to ther therof the leerning reporting and remembring whithe Clerkis and lay folke so taugt of the Apostlis and outlyving to the Apostlis mygten have taugten othere Clerkis and lay folke the same al hool feith sufficientli which surviving and outlyvyng her Techers mygte have taugte othere folke bothe of the Clergie and of the Layte the same hool feith sufficientli whiche folke so taugt also surviving and outlyvyng her Techers mygten have taugt the same al hool feith sufficientli to othere and so forth into this present dai without eny writing maad delivered to folke upon the same feith so taugt And if this had be doon thanne the feith of ech Leerners hadde be sufficientli ynoug groundid in her Techers and in no Scripture therupon maad Wherfore it folowith that Scripture is not ne was not the ground of feith to eny persoonys bileeving That this be trewe which is bifore takun in the profe of the seconde premysse that thoug the Apostlis hadde not written eny word thei mygten have taugt the al hool ful feith to peple sufficiently y may argue thus In tyme of the oold Lawe it was so that al the bileeve conteynyd in thillâ— Lawe was taugt by mouth and mas leerned by mouth For whi Exod. the XIII Chap. whanne it is seid of the paske day that it schulde be kept yeerli by the Lawe thanne renning it is seid ferthe anoon aftir this And thou schalt telle to thi sone in that day and schalt seie This is it what the Lord dide to me whanne y gede out of Egipt and it schal be as a signe in thi honde and as a memorial bifore thi igen and that the lawe of God be ever in thi mouth For in a stronge honde the Lord ledde thee out of Egipt c. Also soone aftir there whanne it is bede that the peple of Iewis schulde halowe to God ech first gendrid thing that openeth the wombe among the sones of Israel as well of Men as of Bestis thanne it is seid anoon aftir thus And whanne thi sone schal aske of thee to morewe and seie what is this thou schalt answere to him In a stronge honde the Lord ledde us out of Egipt of the hous of servage For whanne Pharao was maad hard and wolde not delyver us the Lord killid al the first gendrid thing in the londe of Egypt fro the first gendrid of man til to the first gendrid of bestis Therefore y offre to the Lord al thing of mawle kinde that openeth the wombe and y agenbie alle the first gendrid thingis of my sones Therefore it schal be as a signe in this honde and as a thing hanged for mynde bifore thi igen For in a stronge honde he ledde us out of Egipt Also lyk sentence to this is written Deutro VI. Chap. of the paske daie keping and Josue IV. Chap. of the XII Stoones taken out of the water and sette on drie lond into perpetual remembrance that Jordan was dried Also Deutr. IV. Chap. it was seid thus Forgete thou not the wordis which thin igen sigen and falle thou not from thin herte in alle the daies of thi lyf Thou schalt teche tho to thi sones and to thy sones sones Telle thou the day in which thou stodist bifore thi Lord God in Oreb whanne the Lord spake to me and seid c. Also Deutro XI Chap. it was seid thus Putte these wordis in youre hertis and soulis and hange ye the wordis for assigne in hondis and sette ye bitwixe youre igen teche youre sones that thei thenke in tho wordis whanne thou sittist in thi house and goist in the wey and liggist doun and risist Thou schalt write tho wordis on the postis and gatis of thi house that the daies of thee and of thi sones be multiplied in the lond which c. Wherefore bi like skile in tyme of the newe Lawe the al hool feith mygt have be taugt bi word of mouthe fro oon to an othre into this present day sufficientli Ferthemore into prof or into confirmacioun of the same seid seconde premysse availith this that we seen in summe Monasteries the kunnyng and the fulfilling of certeyn usagis and customes be had forth in persoones of the Monestarie and be continued bothe in knowing and in fulfilling sufficientli fro the first Fadirs of the Monestaries unto this present day and that without eny writyng maad upon the same usagis but bi discente of word oonli fro persoone into persoone Wherfore in lyk maner the kunnyng and the using of al oure hool feith mygte have be hadde and lad and contynued sufficientli bi mynde and bi teching of mouthe fro Fadris and Prelatis into her Children and Parischens
without eny writyng to be maad therupon The seconde Argument is this If it had be done in dede as is next above argued that it mygte so have be doon that is to seie if it had be so doon that the Apostlis hadden taugt bi word manye Clerkis and manye of the lay folke the hool al ful feith sufficientli these Clerkis and laifolk surviving and outlyvyng to the Apostlis hadden taugt bi word the same al hool ful feith to othre Clerkis and laifolk succeding aftir the deeth of the Apostlis and that sufficienli and so forth into this day thanne the feith so taugt bi word and so descending bi word fro persoonys into persoonys into this present day sufficientli hadde be sufficientli groundid in the Clergie so taugten to othere Thoug therwith a Scripture hadde be maad and delyvered forth bi the Apostlis upon the same feith â—o bi word taugt to othere But so it was indede that the Apostlis taugten othre Clerkis the ful al hool feith bi word sufficientli and the Clerkis so taugt of the Apostlis sufficientli taugten othere Clerkis succeding aftir them the same al hool feith and that bi word sufficientli and so forth continuali into this present day Wherfore the al hool ful feith bothe in the tyme of the Apostlis and alwey ever sithen was groundid sufficientli in the Clergie for the tyme beyng and lyvyng and bi the maner now seid teching and delyveryng And thanne ferth it folowith thus If the Clergie for the tyme being bi ther such now seid teching and delyvering was and is sufficient ground for our feith for al tyme sithen the daies of the Apostâ—lis it folowith at the leest that for to loke aftir or sette eny othere thing as is Scripture every othere thing to be ground of the same feith after Cristis teching bi word and sithen the teching of the Apostlis bi word is no nede The first premysse of this secunde principal argument is open ynoug to be trewe and the II. Premysse of the same argument schal be proved thus Crist bade to hise Apostlis Matth. the last Ch. thus Go ye therefore and teche ye alle folkis baptizing them in the name of the Fadir and of the Sone and of the Holi Goost teching them to keep alle thingis whatever thingis y have comaundid to you and also Mark the last Chap. Crist bede to hise Apostlis thus Go ye into al the World and preche ye the Gospel to every creature and anoon aftir it is seid there thus Thei forsothe goyng forth prechiden every where But so it is that the Apostlis hadden not fulfilled this now seid Comaundement maad to them bi Crist in lasse than thei hadden prechid bi word of mouthe sufficientli al the hool feith necessarie to be had of the peple For whi al the hool feith necessarie to be had is included in the Gospel of God that is to seie in the message of God which message God sent into the world Wherfore sothe it is that the Apostlis prechiden bi word of mouthe to othere Clerkis and folkis al the hool ful feith sufficientlâ— and so the secunde bifore maad principal premysse to be proved is trewe The III. principal argument is this If the Apostlis hadden taugt manye Clerkis and manye of the laifolk the hool al ful feith bi word of mouthe principali and these Clerkis and laifolk survyvyng and outlyvyng to the Apostlis hadden taugt bi word principali the same hool feith to othere Clerkis and to othere folk aftir the deeth of the Apostlis and so forth into this day thanne the al hool feith so taugt bi word of mouthe principali and descending bi word principali fro persoonys into persoonys unto this present day hadde be principali groundid in the Clergie whilis the Clergie so taugt othere thoug therwith had be a Scripture maad and delyvered forth bi the Apostlis to othere upon the same feith But so it was in dede that the Apostlis taugten othere Clerkis the hool ful feith bi word principali and tho clerkis so taugt of the Apostlis bi word principali taugten othere clerkis succeding to them the same al hool feith and that bi word principali and so forth contynueli into this present day Wherefore the al hool feith bothe in the tyme of the Apostlis and alwey sithen was groundid principali in the Clergie for the tyme beyng and lyvyng and bi maner nowe seid teching and delyveryng And thanne ferth it folowith thus If the Clergie for the tyme veyng bi ther nowe seid such teching and delyveryng was and is the principal ground for our feith for al tyme aftir the daies of the Apostolis it folowith at the fulle that to loke aftir or seche aftir or seie Scripture to be the principal ground of our feith or that Scripture schulde be a principal ground thereof or more necessarie and better grounding of the same feith thanne is the Clergie of the Church aftir the daies of the Apostlis is waast ydel vanite and untrewe The first Premysse of this III. principal argument is pleyn ynoug to be trewe And for profe of the II. premysse of this III. principal argument may be maad the same argument which bifore is maad for profe of the II. premysse of the II. principal argument and that bi the rehercid Textis of Matt. the last chapter and Mark the last chapter The IV. principal argument is this The Church of Crist which be foundid on erthe and of which he is the heed is alwey and altymes oon and the same as S. Paul witnessith where he seith that to man to have by the lawe oon Wyf undeptabili signifieth Crist to have oon Church for his spouse And the same witnessith the Clergie bi the profis or sequencis whiche he singith in the Masse of Dedicacioun Feest day and in the VIII day of the same Feest and this same is comounli allegoriesed upon thilk Text Cant. Oon is mi Dove But so it was that in the tyme of the Apostolis the Churche of Crist in erthe bi his principal partly which was the Clergie was of so greet worthinesse and auctorite and dignite that he thanne more groundid the Feith of Crist than Scripture groundid feith of Crist thanne For whi the Apostlis thanne beyng the Clergie of Cristis Church groundid more Cristis Feith than ther writyng maad and writen bi them groundid as thanne the same Feith in as moche as the effect of a cause dooth not so moche in to another effect as doith the cause of the same effect into the same other effect aftir good Philosophie Wherfore it seemeth folowe that the Church of Crist nowe being and at al tyme a this side the Apostlis for the tyme being is and was of great worthinesse auctorite and dignite that he now more groundith the Feith of Crist than Scripture groundith now the same Feith Sithen oon and the same Churche is nowe and thanne and therfore bi like skile