from the Controversies now in hand p. 8. III. The Writings which go under the names of the Fathers are not all truly such but are a great part of them Supposititious and Forged either long since or of later times p. 11. IV. Those of the Writings of the Fathers which are Legitimate have been in many places corrupted by Time Ignorance and Fraud both Pious and Malitious both in the Former and Later Ages p. 34. V. The Writings of the Fathers are hard to be understood by reason of the Languages and Idioms they wrote in the Manner of their Writing which is for the most part incumbred with Figures and Rhetorical Flourishes and nice Logical Subtilties and the like and also by reason of the Termes which they for the most part used-in a far different sense from what they now bear p. 69. VI. When we meet with an Opinion clearly delivered in the Writings of any of the Fathers we must not from hence conclude that the said Father held that Opinion seeing that we often find them speaking those things which themselves have not believed whether it be when they report the opinion of some other without naming the persons as they frequently do in their Commentaries or in disputing against an Adversary in which kind of Writing they take liberty to say one thing and believe another or whether it be that they concealed their own private Opinion purposely as they have done in their Homilies meerly in compliance to such a part of their Auditory p. 100. VII Supposing that we are well assured that a Father hath clearly delivered his Opinion in any Point we ought notwithstanding to enquire into the time wherein he wrote that Opinion of his whether it were before or after he arrived to Ripeness of Judgment For we see that they have sometimes retracted in their old age what they had written when they were young p. 117. VIII But suppose that a Father hath constantly held one Opinion it will nevertheless concern us to inquire How he held it and in what degree of Belief whether as Necessary or Probable only and then again in what degree of Necessity or of Probability he placed it Beliefs being not all equally either Necessary or Probable p. 123. IX After all this we are to examine whether or no he deliver this as his own particular Opinion only for this cannot necessarily bind our faith or whether he deliver it as the Opinion of the Church in his time p. 136. X. In the next place it will concern us to enquire whether he deliver it for the Judgment of the Church Vniversal or of some particular Church only those things which have been received by the Major Part having not always notwithstanding been received by some particular parts of the Church p. â—4â— XI And after all this whether you take the Church for the Collective Body of Christians or only for the body of the Clergy or Pastors it is notwithstanding impossible to know what the Belief of the whole Church in any Age hath been for as much as it frequently so falls out that the Opinions of these Men who have appeared to the World have not only not been received but on the contrary have also been Opposed and Contradicted by thâ—se Members of the same Church who have not at all appeared to the World who notwithstanding both for their Learning and Piety deserved perhaps to have had as much or more Esteem and Authority than the other p. 151. The Second Book THE second Reason namely that neither the Testimony nor the Preaching of the Fathers is altogether Infallible is proved by these following Considerations p. 1. II. The Fathers themselves witness against themselves that they are not to be believed Absolutely and upon their own bare word p. 11. III. It appeareth plainly by their Manner of Writing that they never intended that their Writings should be our Judges p. 40. IV. They have erred in divers Points not only Singly but also many of them together p. 60. V. They have very much contradicted one the other and have maintained different Opinions in Matters of great Importance p. 112. VI. Lastly to say the truth neither Party alloweth them for Judges but reject them boldly and without any scruple both the one and the other maintaining divers things which the Fathers were ignorant of and rejecting others which were maintained by them the Protestants in those things where the Fathers have gone either against or besides the Scripture the Church of Rome where they oppose against them the Resolutions of their Popes or of Councils Seeing therefore that both Parties attribute the Supream Authority to some other Judges the Fathers though perhaps their Resolutions should be grounded on Divine Authority could never be able notwithstanding to clear their Differences and to reconcile the two Parties p. 126. So that it followeth from hence that our Controversies are to be decided by some other means than that of their Writings and that we are to observe the same Method in Religion that we do in all other Sciences making use of those things wherein we all agree for the clearing of those wherein we differ comparing exactly the Conclusions of both Parties with their Principles which are to be acknowledged and granted by both sides whether it be in Reason or Divine Revelation And as for the Fathers we ought to read them carefully and heedfully and especially without any prejudication on either side searching their Writings for their Opinions and not for our own arguing Negatively concerning those things which we find not in them rather then Affirmatively that is to say holding all those Articles for suspected which are not found in them it being a thing altogether Improbable that those Worthies of the Church were Ignorant of any of the Necessary and Principal Points of Faith but yet not presently receiving for an Infallible Truth whatsoever is found in them for as much as being but Men though Saints they may sometimes have erred either out of pure Ignorance or else perhaps out of Passion which they have not been always wholly free from as appeareth clearly by those Books of theirs which are left Vs The Testimonies of the Lord Faulkland Lord Digby Doctor Taylor Doctor Rivet concerning this learned Book Reader THE Translation of this Tract hath been oft attempted and oftner deâ—â—â—ed by many Noble Personages of this and other Nations among others by Sir Lucius Cary late Lord Viscount Faulkland who with his dear Friend Mr. Chillingworth made very much use of it in all their Writings against the Romanists But the Papers of that learned Nobleman wherein this Translation was half finisht were long since involved in the common loss Those few which have escaped it and the press make a very honourable mention of this Monsieur whose acquaintance the said Lord was wont to say was worth a Voyage to Paris Pag. 202. of his Reply he hath these words This observation of mine hath been confirmed by consideration of
from the Father to the Son this doubt I say of his manifestly proveth that the Church had not as yet at that time embraced or concluded upon the former of these Opinions it being a thing utterly improbable that so modest a Man as S. Augustine was would have cast off the general Opinion of the Church and have taken up a particular Fancy of his own But the Passion wherewith S. Hierome was at that time carried away against Ruffinus a great part of the Learned Men of his time being also of the said Opinion easily wrought in him a belief that it was the Common Judgment and Opinion of the whole Christian Church From the same Root also sprung that Errour of John Bishop of Thessalonica if at least it be an Errour who affirmed That the Opinion of the Church was That Angels are not wholly Incorporeal and Invisible but that they have Bodies though of a very Rare and thin Substance not much unlike those of the Fire or the Air. For those who published the General Councils at Rome conceive this to have been his own private Opinion onely And if so neither shall we need at present to examine the Truth of this their Conceit you then plainly see that the Affection this Author bare to his own Opinion carried him so far away as to make him father upon the whole Church what was indeed but his own particular Opinion though otherwise he were a Man who was highly esteemed by the VII Council which not onely citeth him among the Fathers but honours him also with the Title of a Father Epiphanius must also be excused in the same manner where he assures us That the Church held by Apostolical Tradition the Custom which it had of meeting together thrice a Week for the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist which yet Petavius maketh evidently appear not to have been of Apostolical Institution The Mistakes of Venerable Bede noted and censured elsewhere by Petavius are of the fame nature also The Belief of the Church if I mistake not saith he is That our Saviour Christ lived in the Flesh Thirty three Years or there about till the time of his Passion And he saith moreover That the Church of Rome testifieth that this is Its Belief by the Marks which they yearly set upon their Tapers upon Good Friday whereon they always inscribe a Number of Tears which is less by Thirty three than the common Aera of the Christians He likewise saith in the same place That it is not lawful for any Catholick to doubt whether Jesus Christ suffered on the Cross the XV day of the Moon or not Now Petavius hath proved at large that both these Opinions which Beda delivers unto us as the Churches Belief are nothing less than what he would have them The curious Reader may observe many the like Carriages in the Writings of the Fathers but these here already set down in my judgment do sufficiently justifie the doubt which I have made namely that we ought not to receive as Certain Truths the Testimony which the Fathers give touching the Belief of the Church in their Time Nevertheless that we may not seem to make a breach upon the Honour and Reputation of the Fathers I say that though we should grant that all their Depositions and Testimonies in this Particular were certainly and undoubtedly True yet notwithstanding would they be of little use to us as to our present purpose For first of all there are but very few Passages wherein they testifie plainly and in direct Terms what the Belief of the Church in their Time hath been touching the Points now controverted amongst us This is the Business of an Historian rather than of a Doctor of the Church whose Office is to teach to prove and to exhort the People committed to his Charge and to correct their Vices and Errours telling them what they ought to do or believe rather than troubling them with Discourses of what is done or believed by others But yet when they do give their Testimony what the Belief and Discipline of the Church in their time was this Testimony of theirs ought not to extend save onely to what was apparently such and which besides was apparent to themselves too Now as we have formerly proved they could not possibly know the Sense and Opinions of every particular Christian that lived in their time nor yet of all the Pastors and Ministers who were set over them but of some certain Particular Christians onely Forasmuch therefore as it is confessed even by those very Men who have the Church in greatest esteem that the Belief of Particular Churches is not infallible we may very easily perceive that such Testimonies of the Fathers as these can standus in very little or no stead seeing they represent unto us such Opinions as are not always certainly and undoubtedly True and which consequently are so far from confirming and proving ours as that they rather stand in need of being examined aud proved themselves But yet suppose that the Church of Rome did hold that the Beliefs of Particular Churches were Infallible which yet it doth not yet would not this make any thing at all against the Protestants forasmuch as they are of the clean contrary Opinion Now it is taken for granted on all hands that Proofs ought to be fetched from such things as are confessed and acknowledged by your Adversary whom you endeavour to convince otherwise you will never be able to move him or make him quit his former Opinion Seeing therefore that the Testimonies of the Farthers touching the State of the Faith and Ecclesiastical Discipline of their Times are of this Nature it remaineth that we now consider their other Discourses wherein they have delivered themselves not as Witnesses deposing what they had seen but as Doctors instructing us in what they believed And certainly how Holy and Able soever they were it cannot be denied but that they were still Men and consequently were subject to Error especially in matters of Faith which is a Business so much transcending Humane Apprehension The Spirit of God onely was able to direct their Understandings and their Pens in the Truth and to withhold them from falling into any Error in like manner as it directed the Holy Prophets and Apostles while they wrote the Books of the Old and New Testament Now we cannot be any way assured that the Spirit of God was present always with them to enlighten their Understandings and to make them see the Truth of all those things whereof they wrote They neither pretend to this themselves nor yet doth any one that I know of attribute unto them this Assistance unless it be perhaps the Author of the Gloss upon the Decrees who is of Opinion that we ought to stand to all that the Fathers have written even to the least tittle who yet is very justly called to a round account for this by Alphonsus Ã
at this very day that we may not trouble our selves to look so high we see by experience that there is scarcely that Parish to be found how small soever it be where there are not particular Persons that maintain in many Points of Religion different Opinions from those of their Minister But if we take a whole Diocess together and pass by all those who trouble themselves not at all with the difference of Opinions in Religion whether it be by reason of their want of years or their weakness of Judgment or their malice and take notice only of the rest dividing them according to the difference of their Opinions I am verily perswaded that that part which shall agree in all Points with the Bishop of that Diocess will many times be found to be the least Let a Bishop preach or write what he will touching the Points which are now in Controversie he will very hardly represent unto you the Judgment of half the People of his Diocess Now we must conceive that the temper of the World of old was no other than what it is at this present day and therefore also for this very reason the liberty of embracing what Opinions a man pleased was much greater then than it is now forasmuch as the Church of Rome did not exercise its Power then throughout Christendom so Absolutely as it doth now adays neither did the Pastors or the Princes use that severity and rigour which is now every where practised in our days for the repressing this diversity of Opinions We must therefore necessarily believe that the Opinions of the Faithful were in those days altogether as different if not much more than they are now Whence it will also follow That even the Doctors themselves who lived in those Times could not know all the different Opinions of Men much less could they represent them unto us in their Writings But we shall not stand any longet upon a thing that no Man can deny us but shall rather proceed to the consideration of that which every one no doubt will be ready here to reply upon us touching this Particular namely That it is not necessary that we should know the Opinions in Points of Religion of all particular Persons which are almost infinite in number and for the most part very â—ill grounded and uncertain but that it is sufficient if we know what the Belief hath been of the Pastors and those that have been set over the Church that is to say of the Church taken in the latter sense But yet I confess I do not see that this Rule is so absolutely right as that we ought to walk by it For if we are to take the Church for the Rule and Foundation of our Faith as the Authors of this Reply pretend we ought to do the People in my Judgment ought not then to be here excluded and passed by as a thing of no consideration I confess the Opinions of particular Persons are very different one from the other and the knowledge of some of them is very mean and sometimes also is none at all But yet possibly this Reason may chance to exclude even a good part of the Clergy also from the Authority which they lay claim to in this Particular being it cannot be denied but that both Ignorance and Malice have oftentimes as great a share here proportionably as they have among the very People it self Who sees not that if we must have regard to the Capacity of Men there are sometimes found even among the plain ordinary sort of Christians in a Church those that are more considerable both for their Learning and Piety than the Pastors themselves One of those Fathers of whom we now discourse hath informed us That many times the Clergy have erred the Bishop hath wavered in his Opinion the Rich Men have adhered in their Judgment to the Earthly Princes of this World mean-while the People alone preserved the Faith entire Seeing therefore that it may sometimes happen and that it hath also many times hapned that the Clergy have held Erroneous Opinions while the People onely held the True it is very evident in my judgment that the Opinion of the People in these cases ought not wholly to be neglected And truly S. Cyprian telleth us in divers places That the Church in his time had the People in very great esteem no Business of any importance being then transacted without communicating the same to the People as may be seen by any one in the Epistles of this Father insomuch that The greatest part of the People also were present at the Council of Carthage where the Question touching the Baptism of Hereticks was debated whereof we have already spoken somewhat a little before But because this Point is still controverted I shall let it alone for this time Let us therefore grant since our Adversaries will needs have it so that it is sufficient in this case to know what the Belief was of the Church taken in the later and stricter sense that is to say of the Clergy for even this way it is evident enough that it is a very hard if not an impossible thing truly to discover what it hath been in each several Age. For there is no less diversity of Opinion among the Clergy than there is among the People and many times too there is much more the being conversant in Books ordinarily reducing things into nicer subtilties and giving occasion of raising divers Opinions upon the same Who is he that will undertake to give us an Account what the Opinion is of all the Clergy of one City onely I do not say of a Kingdom or of all Christendom touching all the Articles of Religion Who would be able to perform this if he should undertake it Never was there more exact care taken for the Conservation of Uniformity in Judgment among Christians than is now at this day when there is use made not only of the Censures and Thunderbolts of the Church but even of the Fire and the Sword of the Secular Powers also And yet notwithstanding all this how many Ecclesiastical Persons are there to be found even in those very places where these rigorous Courses are observed with the greatest strictness even at Rome it self and as it were in the Popes own Bosom who differ very much in Judgment touching Points of Religion both from their Equals and from their Superiours In France where by the Blessing of God the Liberty of Conscience is much greater than in other places it would be a wonder if where Four Clergy Men of the more Learned and Politer sort were met together Two of them should not upon some Point or other of the Faith differ in judgment from the Main Body of their Church And here I am to intreat all those who follow Cassander in great numbers adoring the Monuments of the Fathers and who take whatsoever they find in him for the General Sense of the Ancient Christians but to
what hath been so temperately learnedly and judiciously written by Monsieur Daille our Protestan-Perron And what the same Lord in a Treatise which will shortly be publisht saith concerning the Popish Perron viz. Him I can scarce ever laudare in one sense that is quote but I must laudare in the other that is praise who hath helpt the Church to all the advantages which wit learning industry judgment and eloquence could add unto her is as true of this our Protestant I shall add but one Lords Testimony more viz. the Lord George Digbies in his late Letters concerning Religion in these words p. 27 28. The reasons prevalent with me whereon an inquiring and judicious person should be obliged to rely and acquiesce are so amply and so learnedly set down by Monsieur Daillé in his Employ des Peâ—â—s that I think little which is material or weighty can be said on this subject that his rare and piercing observation hath not anticipated Were it needful to wander to Foreigners for Testimonies I could tell you how highly this Author is esteemed by the Learned and Famous Doctor Andr. Rivet upon whole importunity his Book des Images and other Tracts have been translated but writing to Englishmen I will only name the judicious Doctor Jer. Taylor Libert of Proph. Sect. 8. n. 4. in these words I shall chuse such a topick as makes no invasion upon the great reputation of the Fathers which I desire should be preserved sacred as it ought For other things let who please read Mr. Daillé du vrai usage des Peres Et siquis eueulo locus inter Oscines I must ingenuously profess that it was the reading of this rational Book which first convinced me that my study in the French Language was not ill employed which hath also enabled me to commend this to the World as faithfully translated by a judicious hand And that if there were no other use of the Fathers there is very much while Testem quem quis adducit pro se tenetur accipere contra se is a rule in reason as well as Civil Law and that the works of Cord. Perron for whose monstrous understanding they are the words of Viscount Faulkland p. 59. Bellarmine and Bironius might with most advantage to their party and no disgrace to them have been employed in seeking citations being built upon the principle That whatever the Fathers witness to be tradition and the doctrine of the Church must be received of all for such and so relied on And this principle being here throughly examined You have here as sufficient a constitation of Perrons Book against K. J. and by consequence of the Marquess of Worcesters against K. C. and Dr. Vanes and other Epitonizers of the Cardinal as you have of Mr. Cressys in the Preface to the Lord Faulkland by the learned I. P. Chr. Coll. Aug. 1. 1651. T. S. THE PREFACE ALl the Difference in Religion which is at this day betwixt the Church of Rome and the Protestants lies in some certain Points which the Church of Rome maintaineth as important and necessary Articles of the Christian Faith Whereas the Protestants on the contrary neither believe nor will receive them for such For as for those things which the Protestants believe for their part and which they conceive to be the Fundamentals of Religion they are so evidently and undeniably such as that even their Adversaries themselves do also allow of and receive them as well as they for as much as they are both clearly delivered in the Scriptures and expresly set down by the Ancient Councils and Fathers and are indeed unanimously received by the greatest part of Christians in all Ages and Parts of the World Such for example are these Maxims following Namely That there is a God who is Supreme over all and who created the Heavens and the Earth That having created Man after his own Image this Man revolting from his Obedience is faln together with his whole Posterity into most extreme and eternal misery and become infected with Sin as with a mortal Leprosie and is therefore obnoxious to the Wrath of God and liable to his Curse That the Merciful Creator pitying Mans Estate graciously sent his Son Jesus Christ into the World That his Son is God Eternal with him and that having taken Flesh upon himself in the Womb of the Virgin Mary and become Man He hath done and suffered in this Flesh all things necessary for our Salvation having by this means sufficiently expiated for our Sins by his Blood and that having finished all this he is ascended again into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father from whence He shall one day come to judge all Mankind rendering to every one according to their Works That to enable us to communicate of his Salvation by His Merits He sendeth us down His Holy Spirit proceeding both from the Father and the Son and who is also one and the same God with Them in such sort as that these Three Persons are notwithstanding but One GOD who is Blessed for ever That this Spirit enlightens our Vnderstanding and begets Faith in us whereby we are justified That after all this the LORD sent his Apostles to Preach this Doctrine of Salvation throughout the whole World That These have planted Churches and placed in each of them Pastors and Teachers whom we are to hear with all reverence and to receive from them Baptism the Sacrament of our Regeneration and the Holy Eucharist or Lords Supper which is the Sacrament of our Communion with Jesus Christ That we are likewise all of us bound to love GOD and our Neighbour very fervently observing diligently that Holy Doctrine which is laid down unto us in the Books of the New Testament which have been inspired by His Spirit of Truth as also those other of the Old there being nothing either in the one or in the other but what is most true These Articles and some other few the like which there perhaps may be are the substance of the Protestants whole Belief and if all other Christians would but content themselves with these there would never be any Schism in the Church But now their Adversaries add to these many other Points which they press and command Men to believe as necessary ones and such as without believing of which there is no possible hope of Salvation As for example That the Pope of Rome is the Head and Supreme Monarch of the whole Christian Church throughout the World That He or at least the Church which he acknowledgeth a true one cannot possibly erre in matter of Faith That the Sacrament of the Eucharist is to be adored as being really Jesus Christ and not a piece of Bread That the Mass is a Sacrifice that really expiates the Sins of the Faithful That Christians may and ought to have in their Churches the Images of God and of Saints to which they are to use Religious Worship bowing down before them That it is
had been written against the See of Rome and he commanded the very same thing also in the VIII Council which is accounted by the Latines for a General Council It is impossible but that in these Fires very many Pieces must needs have perished which might have been of good use to us for the discovering what the opinion of the Ancients was whether touching Images which was the business of the VII Council or that other Controversie touching the Power of the Pope which was the principal Point debated in the Synod held by Photius some of whose Pieces they for the self same reason do at this day keep at Rome under Lock and Key which doubtless they would long ere this have published had they but made as much for the Pope as in all probability they make against him This rigorous proceeding against Books came at length to that height as that Leo X. at the Council of Lateran which brake up An. 1518. decreed That no Book should be printed but what had first been diligently examined at Rome by the Master of the Palace in other places by the Bishop or some other person deputed by him to the same purpose and by the Inquisitor under this penalty That all Book sellers offending herein should forfeit their Books which should be presently burnt in publick and should pay a hundred Ducats when it should be demanded towards the Fabrick of S. Peter a kind of punishment this which we find no examples of in all the Canons of the Ancient Church and should also be suspended from exercising his Function for the space of a whole year This is a General Sentence and which comprehendeth as well the Works of the Fathers as of any others as appeareth plainly by this that the Bishop of Malfi having given in his opinion saying that he concurred with them in relation to New Authors but not to the Old all the rest of the Fathers voted simply for all neither was there any Limitation at all added to this Decree of the Council This very Decree hath been since strongly confirmed by the Council of Trent which appointed also certain persons to take a Review of the Books and Censures and to make a Report of them to the Company To the end that there might be a separation made betwixt the good Grain of Christian Verity and the Darnel of strange Doctrines That is in plain terms that they might blot out of all manner of Books whatsoever relished not well with the gust of the Church of Rome But these Fathers having not the leisure themselves to look to this Pious Work appointed certain Commissaries who should give an account of this matter to the Pope whence afterward it came to pass that Pope Pius IV. first and afterward Sixtus V. and Clement VIII published certain Rules and Indexes of such Authors and Books as they thought fit should be either quite abolished or purged only and have given such strict order for the printing of Books as that in those Countries where this order is observed there is little danger that ever any thing should be published that is either contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome or which maketh any thing for their Adversaries All these Instructions which are too long to be inserted here may be seen at the end of the Council of Trent where they are usually set down at large And in order to these Rules they have since put forth their Indices Expurgatorii as they call them namely that of the Low Countries and of Spain and other places where these Gallants come with their Razor in their hand and sit in judgment upon all manner of Books rasing out and altering as they please Periods Chapters and whole Treatises also often times and that too in the Works of those Men who for the most part were born and bred up and dyed also in the Communion of their own Church If the Church for eight or nine hundred years since had so sharp Razors as these men now have it is then a vain thing for us to search any higher what the judgment of the Primitive Christians was touching any particular Point for whatsoever it was it could not have escaped the hands of such Masters And if the Ancient Church had not heretofore any such Institution as this why then do we who pretend to be such Observers of Antiquity practise these Novelties I know very well that these men make profession of reforming only the Writings of the Moderns but who sees not that this is but a Cloak which they throw over themselves lest they should be accused as guilty of the same cruelty that Jupiter is among the Poets for having behaved himself so insolently against his own Father Those Pieces which they raze so exactly in the Books of the Moderns are the cause of the greater mischief to themselves when they are found in the Writings of the Ancients as sometimes they are For what a senseless thing is it to leave them in where they hurt most and to raze them out where they do little hurt The Inquisition at Madrid puts out these words in the Index of Athanasius Adorari solius Dei est that is God alone is to be worshipped and yet notwithstanding these words are still expresly found in the Text of Athanasius The same Father saith That there were some other Books besides those which he had before set down which in truth were not of the Canon and which the Fathers had ordained should be read to those who were newly come into the Christian Communion and desired to be instructed in the word of Piety reckoning in this number the Wisdom of Solomon Ecclesiâ—sticus Judith Esther Tobit and some other Nevertheless these very Censâ—rs put out in the †Index of Athanasius his Works those words which affirm that the said Books are not at all Canonical In the Index of St. Augustine they put out these wâ—rds Christ hâ—th given the sign of his Body which yet are evidently to be seen in the Text of this Father in his Book against Adimantus Chap. 12. They put out in like manner these words Augustine accounted the Eucharist necessary to be administred to Infants which opinion of S. Augustine is very frequently found expressed either in these very words or the like throughout his Works as we shall see hereafter They likewise put out these words We ought not to build Temples to Angels and yet the very Text of S. Augustine saith If we should erect a Temple of Wood or of Stone to any of the holy Angels should we not be Anathematized And this is the practice of the Censors both in the Low Countries and in Spain in many other particulars which we shall not here set down Now if thou cuttest off such Sentences as these out of the Indexes of these Holy Fathers why dost thou not as well raze them out of the Text also Or if thou leavest
Hereticks the innocent and pious Fraud of the Primitive Church and the Passion of the later Christians have long since produced have rendred the Writings and Venerable Monuments of Antiquity so imbroiled and perplexed that it will be a very hard matter for any man to make any clear and perfect discovery of those things which so many sevéral Artists have endeavoured to conceal from Uâ— CHAP. V. Reason V. That the Writings of the Fathers are hard to be understood by reason of the Languages and Idioms they wrote in the Manner of their Writing which is for the most part incumbred with Figures and Rhetorical Flourishes and nice Logical Subtilties and the like and also by reason of the Terms which they for the most part used in a far different sense from what they now bear IF any Man either by the light of his own proper Wit or by the assistance and direction of some able and faithful hand shall at length be able thereby as by the help of the Clew the Poets speak of to winde himself happily out of these two Labyrinths and to find any Pieces of the Ancients that are not onely Legitimate but also entire and uncorrupt certainly that Man hath very good reason to rejoyce at his own good fortune and to give God hearty thanks for it For I must needs confess that it is no very small satisfaction to a Man to have the opportunity of conversing with those Illustrious Persons of the Ages past and to learn of them what their Opinions were and to compare our own with theirs Versasque audire reddere voces But yet this I dare confidently pronounce That if he would know out of them what their Sense and Opinion hath truly been touching the Differences now in agitation he will find that he is now but at the very beginning and entrance of his Business and that there remain behind many more Difficulties to be overcome in his passage than he hath yet grappled with One of the two disagreeing Parties refusing the Scriptures for the Judge of Controversies by reason of its Obscurity lays this for a Ground and indeed rationally enough that no obscure Books are proper for the decision of Controversies Now I do not know why a Man may not with as much reason say of the most of the Writings of the Fathers as S. Hierome did of some certain Expositors of some parts of the Scripâ—ures That it was more trouble to understand Them well than those very things which they took upon them to expound that is to say That it is much harder rightly to understand Them than the Scriptures themselves For that a Man may be able fully to understand them it is in the first place necessary that he have perfect and exact skill in those Languages whâ—rein they wrote that is to say in the Greek and Latin which are the Tongues that most of them wrote in For as for those of the Fathers who have written either in Syriack or Arabick or Ethiopian or the like Vulgar Tongues of their own whose Writings perhaps would be as useful to us in the discovery of the Opinions of the Ancient Church as any others we have not that I know of any of these Monuments now publickly to be seen abroad but only some Translations of them in Greek or in Latin as namely the Works of S. Ephraem if at least those Books which go abroad under his Name be truly his and the Comment de Paradiso of Moses Bar-Cephas translated into Latin by Masius and perhaps some few other the like I know very well that for the most part Men trust to the Translations of the Fathers whether they be in Latin or in the Vulgar Languages and that the World is now come to that pass that People will not stick to take upon them to judge of the Greek Fathers without having at least that can be perceived out of their Writings any competent knowledge of the Greek Tongue which cannot in my judgment be accounted any thing less than a point of the highest boldness and unadvisedness that can be The thing is clear enough of it self that to be able to reach the Conceptions and Sense of a Man especially in Matters of Importance it is most necessary that we understand the Language he delivers himself in his Terms and the manner of their coherence there being in every particular Language a certain peculiar Force and Power of Significancy which can very hardly be so preserved in a Translation but that it will lose in the passage something of its natural Lustre and Vigour how knowing able and faithful soever the Interpreter be But this which is very useful indeed in all other cases is most necessary in this particular Business we have now in hand by reason of the little care and fidelity that we find in the Translations of the greatest part of the Interpreters of the Fathers whether Ancient or Modern We have before seen how Ruffinus and even S. Hierome himself too have laid about them in this particular and long after them Anastasius also in his Translation of the VII Council who notwithstanding in his Preface to the VIII gives us this for a most Infallible Rule namely That whatsoever is found in his Translation is True and Legitimate and on the contrary whatsoever the Greeks have said either more or less is suppositious and forged If all the other Interpreters of the Councils and Fathers had been Men of the same Temper that Anastasius here would have us believe him to have been of we might then indeed very well lay by the Greek Text and content our selves with such dull Latin as he hath furnished us with in his Translation But the mischief of it is that all the World doth not believe this Testimony which he hath given of himself and that although he hath such a special gift in valuing his own Translation above the Original yet this will hardly ever be allowed to the rest of Translators especially the Modern who having been Men that have been for the most part carried away with their affâ—ction to their own Party he must needs be a very weak Man that should trust to them in this case and relie upon what they say Whosoever hath yet a mind to be further satisfied how far these Mens Translations are to be trusted let him but take the pains to compare the Greek Preface to Origen's Books against Celsus with the Latin Translation of Christophorus Persona and if he please he may do well to run over some part of the Books themselves and if he hath a mind to sacrifice himself to the Laughter of the Protestants let him but produce them upon the honest word of this trusty Trucheman this Passage out of the Fifth Book for the Invocation of Angels We ought to send up our Vows and all our Prayers and Thanksgivings to God by the Angel who hath been set over the rest by him â—ho is the Bishop the Living
his own Opinions and Observations as Apostolical and which hath not used his utmost endeavour to gain them the Repute of being Vniversal S. Hierome allows every particular Province full liberty to do herein as they please Let every Province saith he abound in its own Sense and let them account of the Ordinances of their Ancestors as of Apostolical Laws It is true indeed that he speaks in this place onely of certain Observations of things which are in themselves indifferent But yet that which he hath permitted them in these Matters they have practised in all other I shall not here trouble my self to produce any other Reasons to prove the Difficulty of this Inquiry because I should then be forced to repeat a great part of that which hath been already delivered For if it be a very hard matter to attain to any certain knowledge what the Sense of the Writings of the Fathers is as we have proved before how much more difficult a thing will it be to discover whether their Opinions were the Opinions of the particular Churches wherein they lived or else were the Opinions of the Church Universal in their Age the same things which cause Obscurity in the one having as much or rather more reason of doing the like in the other And if you would fully understand how painful an Undertaking this is do but read the Disputations of the Learned of both Parties touching this Point where you shall meet with so many Doubts and Contradictions and such diversity of Opinions that you will easily conclude That this is one of the greatest Difficulties that is to be met withal throughout the whole Study of Antiquity CHAP. XI Reason XI That it is impossible to know exactly what the Belief of the Ancient Church either Vniversal or Particular hath been touching any of those Points which are at this day controverted amongst us BEfore we pass on to the Second Part of this Treatise it seemeth not impertinent to give the Reader this Last Advertisement and to let him know that though all these Difficulties here before represented were removed yet notwithstanding would it still be impossible for us to know certainly out of the Fathers what the Judgment of the whole Ancient Church whether you mean the Church Universal or but any considerable Part thereof hath been touching the Differences which are now on foot in Religion Now that we may be able to make the truth of this Proposition appear it is necessary that we should first of all explain the Terms We understand commonly by the Church especially in these Disputations either all those Persons in General who profess themselves to be of the said Church of what Condition or Quality soever they be or else in a stricter sense the Collective Body of all those who are set over and who are Representatives of the Church that is to say the Clergy So that whether you speak of the Church Universal or of some Particular Church as for example that of Spain or of Carthage this Term may be taken in either of these two senses For by the Church Universal we understand either all those Persons in general who live in the Communion of the Christian Church whether they be of the Laity or of the Clergy or else those Persons onely who are Ecclesiastici or Church-men as we now call them For in the Primitive Times all Christians that lived in the Communion of the Catholicks were called Ecclesiastici In like manner by the Church of Carthage is meant either generally All the Faithful that live in the particular Communion of the Christian Church of Carthage or else particularly and in a stricter sense the Bishop of Carthage with his whole Clergy Now I do not believe that there is any Man but will easily grant me that if we take the Church in the First sense it is impossible to know by way of Testimony given of the same what the Sense and Judgment of it hath been in each several Age touching all the Points of Christian Religion We may indeed collect by way of Discourse what hath been the Belief of the True Members of the Church For there being some certain Articles the Belief whereof is necessarily requisite for the rendring a Man such an one whosoever rightly understands which these Articles be he may certainly conclude that the True Church whether Universal or Particular hath believed the same But now in the first place this doth not extend to all the Points of Christian Religion but onely to those which are Necessary besides which there are divers others concerning which we may have not only different but even contrary Judgments too and yet not thereby hazard the loss either of the Communion of the Church or of our Inheritance of everlasting Salvation So then this Ratiocination concludeth not save onely of those who are the True Members of the Church For as for those who make but an outward Profession onely of the Truth it being not at all necessary that they should be saved there is in like manner no more necessity of their embracing those Beliefs which are requisite for that end They may under this Mask hide all manner of Opinions how Impious soever they be Lastly that which makes most for our purpose is That this Knowledge is acquired by Discourse whereas we speak here of such a Knowledge as is collected by the hearing of several Witnesses who give in their Testimonies touching the thing which we would know Now the Fathers having written with a purpose of informing us not what each particular Man believed in their time but rather what they thought fit that all Men should have believed we must needs conclude That certainly they have not told us all that they knew touching this particular And consequently therefore partly their Charity and partly also their Prudence may have caused them to pass by in silence all such Opinions either of whole Companies or of particular Persons as they conceived to be not so consonant to the Truth But supposing that they had not any of these considerations and that they had taken upon them to give us a just Account each Man of the Opinions of his particular Church wherein he lived it is evident however that they could never have been able to have attainēd to the end of this their Design For how is it possible that they should have been able to have learnt what the Opinion of every single Person was amongst so vast a Multitude which consisted of so many several Persons who were of so different both Capacities and Dispositions Who will believe that S. Cyprian for example knew all the several Opinions of each particular Person in his Diocess so as to be able to give us an account of the same Who can imagine but that among such a Multitude of People as lived in the Communion of his Church there must needs have been very many who differed in Opinion from him in divers Points of Religion Even
Salvation because I conceive with Cassander that all those Passages may and indeed ought to be understood with respect had to the scope and drift of these Authors whose Business there was to confute those Hereticks of Their time who maintained That there was a Fatal Necessity in the Actions of Men by this means depriving them of all manner of Election or Judgment Neither hath the great Learning of Clemens Alexandrinus kept him from falling inâ—o very many the like Errors as for instance where in divers places he says plainly That the Heathen who lived before the coming of our Saviour Christ were justified by Philosophy which was then Necessary for them whereas it is now only Vseful unto them and that this Philosophy was thoâ—â— choolmister of â—he Gentiles which brought them to Christ or served to guide them till the time of his Coming in like manner as the Law did the Jews and that the Greeks were justified by iâ— aloneâ— and that it was given unto them as their Covenant being a step to and as it were a Foundation laid for Christian Philosophy He was of Opinion also in order to this That our Saviour went down into Hell to preach the Gospel to the Departed Souls and that he saved many of them that is all that believed And that the Apostles also after their Death descended likewise into the same place and for the same purpose Conceiving that God otherwise should have been Unjust and an Accepter of Persons if so be he should have condemned all those who died before the Coming of his Son For saith he if He preached to the Living to the end they might not be condemned Vnjustly why should â—e not for the same Reason preach also to those who were departed this Life before his Coming From these and the like Considerations he concludeth That it was necessary that the Souls of all the Dead as well Gentiles as Jews should have been made Partakers of the Preaching of our Saviour and should have had the Beâ—â—fit of the same Dispensation which he used towards others here upon Earth in order either to their Salvation through Repentance or their just Condemnation for their Impenitency He plainly maintains also in several places of his Works That all the Punishments which God inflicts upon Mâ—n tend to their Salvation and are sent them for their Instiuction and Amendment comprehending also within this number even those very Pains which the Damned endure in Hell and from hence it is that he somewhere also affirmeth That wicked Men are to be purged by Fire And hereto doth he refer the Conflagration spoken of by the Stoicks alledging also to this purpose certain Passages out of Plato and out of a certain Philosopher of Ephesus which I conceive to be Heraclitus by all which it clearly appears that he had the same Belief touching the Pains of Hell that his Scholar Origen had who maintains in an infinite number of places up and down his Works That the Pains of Hell are Purgative only and consequently are not Eternal but are to have an end when the Souls of the Damned are once throughly Cleansed and Purified by this Fire He believes also with Justin Martyr That the Angels fell in love with the First Women and that this Love of theirs transported them so far as to make them indiscreetly to discover unto them many Secrets which they ought to have concealed But now quite contrary to Irenaeus who maintains That our Saviour Christ lived upon Earth to the Age of Fifty years Clemens will have him to have Preached in the Flesh but one year onely and to have died in the Thirty first year of his Age. But since it is confessed by both Parties That there are very many absurd Tenets in this Author I shall not meddle any further with him As for Tertullian I confess his very turning Montanist hath taken off indeed very much of the repute which he before had in the Church both for the Fervency of his Pâ—ety and also for his Incomparable Learning But yet besides that a great part of his Works were written while he was yet a Catholick we are also to take notice that this his Montanism put no separation at all betwixt him and other Christians save only in point of Discipline which he according to the Severity of his Nature would have to be most Harsh and Rigorous For as for his Doctrine it is very evident that he constantly kept to the very same Rule and the same Faith that the Catholicks did whence proceeded that tart Speech of his That People rejected Montanus Maximilla and Priscilla not because they had any whit departed from the Rule of Faith but rather because they would have us to Fast oftner than to Marry And this is evident enough out of all those Books which were written by him during the time of his being a Montanist wherein he never disputeth or contendeth about any thing save onely about Discipline And this is ingenuously confessed also by the Learned Nicalaus Rigaltius in his Preface to those IX Books which he hath lately published Now notwithstanding the great Repute which this Father had in the Church and his not departing from it in any thing in Point of Faith yet how many Wild Opinions and Fancies do we meet withal in his Books I shall here speak onely of some of the principal of them passing by his so Dangerous Expressions touching the Person of the Son of God as having touched upon this Particular before But how strange is his manner of Discourse touching the Nature of God whom he seems to render subject to the like Passions that we are as namely to Anger Hatred and Grief He attributes also to him a Corporeal Substance and does not believe as he saith himself that any man will deny but that God is a Body So that we need the less to wonder that he so confidently affirms That there is no Substance which is not Corporeal or that with Justin Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus he makes the Angelical Nature obnoxious to the Carnal Love of Women which occasioned those words in that Book of his De Virginibus velandis where he says That it is necessary that so dangerous a Face should be veiled which had scandalized even Heaven it self We need no after this think strange of his Doctrine touching the Nature of Mans Soul which he will have to be Corporeal and endued with Form and Figure and to be propagated and derived from the Substance of the Father to the Body of the Son and sowed and engendred with the Body increasing and extending it self together with it and many other the like Dreams in the maintaining whereof he useth so much Subtilty strength of Reason and Eloquence as that you will hardly meet with throughout the whole Stock of Antiquity a more Excellent and more Elegant Piece than that
where he says That in the beginning of the Church the Apostles had ordained That the Christians should celebrate the Passeover at the same time and in the same manner that those of the Circumcision did and that those who were then made Bishops at Jerusalem being of the Circumcision it was necessary that all the World should follow them and should likewise keep the Passeover as they did Neither do I see whereupon he could ground that Fancy of his which he proposeth to us as a Certain Truth namely That the Devil before the coming of Christ was in hopes of Grace and Pardon and that out of this Perswasion of his he never all that while shewed himself Refractory toward God but that having understood by the Manifestation of our Saviour that there was left him no hopes of Salvation he front thenceforth had grown exceedingly enraged doing as much mischief as possibly he could against Christ and his Church S. Hierome the Boldest and most Judicious Censurer of the Ancients hath also left to Posterity something whereon they may exercise the same Critical Faculty that he hath so happily employed upon others For how should a Man be able to make good that which he hath affirmed so positively touching God's Providence where he says That it takes care of All Men indeed in General and also of each Particular Man but not of other things whether they be Inanimate or Irrational It is an absurd thing saith he so to abase the Majesty of God as to make him take particular notice how many Gnats are bred or die every hour and how many Puneses Fleas and Flies there are through the whole Earth and how many Fishes swim in the Water and which among the smaller Fishes are to be a Prey to the greater Let us not be such foolish Flatterers of God as by making His Power descend even to the Lowest things to disparage our selves while we say that His Providence in like manner extendeth both to Rational and Irrational Creatures I shall not examine here whether this Opinion be justifiable or not but this I am sure of that you will hardly be able to make it good out of these Words of our Saviour Christ Are not two Sparrows sold for a Farthing and yet one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father But yet supposing that this Opinion might be defended it is however evident that this Father hath lashed out a little too much when he derides all those as Fools and absurd People who chuse rather to adore the Knowledge of God as Infinite than to bound it and make it Finite and for my part I should rather fear that there would be much more Rashness in the one than Foolishness in the other This same Man who here limiteth the Knowledge and Providence of God in another place extendeth to an Infiniteness the Presence of the Souls of Departed Saints by no means enduring them to be confined and shut up in any certain place And the Reason which he gives us of this his Opinion is indeed very wonderful For They always follow the Lamb saith he whithersoever He goeth forasmuch therefore as the Lamb is present everywhere we ought to believe that They also who are with the Lamb are present every where Where are those Logick-Schools how loose and remiss soever they be that would not give a Scholar the Ferula if he should but offer to argue thus confounding the Divinity and Humanity of our Saviour together and from that which is spoken in respect of the one concluding that which is proper to the other So in another place for to bring all the several pieces of an Allegory together and to make them meet in their proper Point he makes the Souls of the Blessed Saints and of the Angels themselves subject to Sin I shall pass by what he hath spoken so reproachfully both against Marriage in General and against Second Marriages in Particular where he useth such unsavoury Expressions as that though we should in the explaining of them follow those very Rules which he himself hath laid down to us in an Epistle of his written to Pammachius upon this very subject it seems notwithstanding an impossible thing to acquit him from holding the same Opinion touching Marriage that Tertullian did which was condemned by the Church as being contrary to the Honour of Marriage and the Authority of the Scripture As for example What Honey or how much Sugar would be sufficient to sweeten that which he says writing to a certain Widow named Furia where he tells her That she was not so worthy to be Commended if she continued a Widow as she would be to be cursed if she married again seeing she was not able being a Christian to preserve that which many Women of her Family bad done being but Pagans Which Expressions of his he repeateth again in the following Epistle where he disswadeth one Ageruchia from marrying again and for this purpose makes use of very unbeseeming Comparisons applying to such Women as marry again that Proverb which St. Peter made use of in another sense The Dog is turned to his own vomit again and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Is not this all one as if he in plam terms ranked second Marriages among unclean and polluted things Not unlike to this is that which he saith in another place in these words I do not at all condemn those who marry the second third or if any such thing may be the eighth time nay more than so I receive also even a Penitent Whore placing those Women that marry the second time in the same rank with those that keep in the stews And he is so full of such expressions as these as that the whole Canary Islands themselves would hardly be sufficient to sweeten them Certainly if he had not believed that there was some Uncleanness in Marriage he would never have been so unwilling as he was to speak out and confess in plain terms that Adam should nevertheless have had carnal knowledge of Eve his Wife though they had both of them contiued in their state of Innocence which thing is evident enough to any one that shall but consider the second Chapter of Genesis from vers 18. to the end of the Chapter Nevertheless this Father durst not positively affirm any such thing fearing lest he might so impose some unclean thing upon the state of Innocence in case he should have allowed them the Use of Marriage Neither is his Opinion more sound touching the Eating of Flesh which being unknown to the World before the Flood was afterwards permitted unto Mankind but as he believes in the very same manner as Divorce was heretofore permitted to the Jews only for the hardness of their heart Whence it followeth as he also says in express Terms that it also was abolished by our Saviour Christ in like manner as Divorce and Circumcision
find that the very same Error was defended by several Doctors of very great Repute in the Church S. Hierome who in divers places of his Commentaries hath excellently and solidly refuted this foolish Fancy says That many among the Learned Christians had maintained the same and to those whom we have already mentioned He addeth Lactantius Victorinus Severus and Apollinaris who is followed in this Point saith he in another place by great multitudes of Christians about us insomuch that I already foresee and presage to my self how many folks anger I shall incur hereby namely because he every where spoke against this Opinion Whence it plainly appears that in his time that is to say about the beginning of the Fifth Century it was still in great request in the Church And indeed how fierce soever he seem to be in his Onset yet he dares not condemn this Opinion absolutely Although we embrace not this Opinion saith he yet can we not condemn it for as much as there have been divers Eminent Personages and Martyrs in the Church who have maintained the same Let every man abound in his own sense and let us leave the judgment of all things to God Whence you see as we may observe by the way that the Fathers have not always held an Opinion in the same degree that we do For St. Hierome conceived this to be a Pardonable Errour which yet we at this day will not endure to hear of If it be here answered that the Church in the Ages following condemned this Opinion as erroneous this is no more than to say that the Churches in the Ages following acknowledged that the joynt Consent of many Fathers together touching one and the same Opinion is no solid Proof of the Truth of the same If Dionysius Alexandrinus had been of any other judgment he would never have written against Irenaeus as he did as St. Hierome also testifieth in one of his Books of Commentaries before cited And if we are to have regard to Authority only the Judgment of the succeeding Church cannot then serve us as a certain Guide in this Question to inform us on which side the Truth is For to alledge it in this Case were rather to oppose one Authority against another than to decide the Controversie As Dionysius Alexandrinus St. Hierome Gregory Nazianzene and others conceived not themselves bound to submit to the Authority of Justin Martyr Irenaeus Lactantius Victorinus Severus and others so neither are we any more bound to submit to theirs For their Posterity oweth them no more Respect than they themselves owed to their Ancestors It seemeth rather that in Reason they should owe them less because that look how far distant in time they are from the Apostles who are as it were the Spring and Original of all Ecclesiastical Authority so much doth the Credit and Authority of the Doctors of the Church lose and grow less If Antiquity as we would have it be the Mark of Truth then certainly that which is the most Ancient is also the most Venerable and the most Considerable And if there were no other Argument but this against the Authority of many Fathers unanimously consenting in any Opinion yet would it clearly serve to lessen the same but there are yet behind many others some whereof we shall here produce We have heard before Justin Martyr Irenaeus Tertullian and St. Augustine affirming all of them that Heaven shall not be opened till the Day of Judgment and that during this space of time the Souls of all the Faithful are shut up in some subterraneous place except some small number of those who had the Priviledge of going immediately to Heaven The Author of those Questions and Answers that go under the name of Justin Martyr maintains the same Opinion as you may see in the Answers to the LX and LXXIV Questions And that I may not unprofitably spend both Time and Paper in bringing in all the particular Passages I say in General that both the Major Part and also the most Eminent Persons among the Ancient Fathers held this Opinion either absolutely or at least in part For besides Justin Martyr Irenaeus Tertullian and St. Augustine and the Author of those Questions and Answers we before mentioned which is a very Ancient Piece indeed though falsly fathered upon Justin Martyr it is clear that Origen Lactantius Victorinus St. Ambrose St. Chrysostome Theodoret Oecumenius Aretas Prudentius Theophylact St. Bernard and among the Popes Clemens Romanus and John XXII were all of this Opinion as is confessed by all neither was this so admirable and general Consent of theirs contradicted by any Declaration of the Church for the space of Fourteen Hundred years neither yet did any one of the Fathers so far as we can discover take upon him to refute this Errour as Dionysius Alexandrinus and St. Hierome did to refute the Millenaries all the rest of the Fathers being either utterly silent as to this Particular and so by this their silence going over in a manner into the Opinion of the Major Part or else contenting themselves with declaring sometimes here and there in their Books that they believed that the Souls of the Saints should enjoy the sight of God till the Resurrection never formally denying the other Opinion But that which doth further shew that this Opinion is both very Ancient and hath been also very Common among the Christians is because that even at this day it is believed and defended by the whole Greek Church neither is there any of all those who make Profession of standing to the Writings of the Fathers as the Rule of their Faiths who have rejected it save only the Latines who have expresly also established the contrary at the Council of Florence held in the year of our Lord 1439. which is not above Two Hundred and Twelve years ago Do but fancy now to your selves a Vicentius Lirinensis standing in the midst of this Council and laying before them his own Oracle before mentioned which is That we ought to hold for most certainly and undoubtedly true whatsoever hath been delivered by the Ancients unanimously and by a Common Consent and do but think whether or no he should not have been hissed out by these Reverend Fathers as one that made the Truth which is holy and immutable to depend upon the Authority of Men For these men regarded not at all neither the Multitude nor the Antiquity nor the Learning nor the Sanctity of the Authors of this foolish Opinion but finding it to be false without any more ado rejected it as they thought they had good Reason to do and withal ordained the contrary Now I am verily perswaded that there are very few Points of Faith among all those which the Church of Rome would have the Protestants receive for which there can be alledged either more or more clear and evident Testimonies out of the Fathers than for this For as much therefore as that after
that a Man may safely build upon them and make them the Judges of Faith and That the Holy Scripture is the onely Rule by which all these things are to be examined And this is that which they All agree upon as far as I have either read or known as any Man may see in the Books of Calvin Bucer Melancthon Luther Beza and the rest who all relie upon the Authority of the Scriptures onely and admit not of any part of the Authority of the Fathers as a sufficient Ground whereon to build any Article of their Belief It is true I confess that some of their First Authors as namely Bucer Peter Martyr and J. Jewell Bishop of Salisbury and in a manner all the Later Writers also alledge the Testimonies of the Fathers but if you but mark it it is onely by way of Confutation and not of Establishing any thing They do it onely to overthrow the Opinions of the Church of Rome and not to strengthen their Own For though they hold That the Doctrine of the Fathers is not so Pure as that of the Apostles yet do they withal believe that it is much Purer than that which is at this day taught by the Church of Rome the Purity of Doctrine having continually decayed and the Impurity of it encreased in such sort as that the further they are removed from the Time of the Apostles the nearer they approach as they say towards the afore-mentioned Falling away spoken of by S. Paul Although the Protestants therefore allow the Scriptures onely for the True Foundation of their Faith yet notwithstanding do they account the Writings of the Fathers to be Necessary also and of good use unto them first of all in the Proving this Decay which they say hath hapned in Christianity and secondly for the making it appear that the Opinions which their Adversaries now maintain were not in those days brought into any Form but were as yet onely in their Seeds As for example Transubstantiation was not as yet an Article of Faith notwithstanding that long ago they did innocently and not foreseeing what the Issue might prove to be believe some certain things out of which being afterwards licked over by passing through divers several Languages Transubstantiation was at length made up So likewise the Supremacy of the Pope had at that time no place in the belief of Men although those small Threds and Root-strings from whence this Vast and Wonderful Power first sprung long since appeared in the World And the like may be said of the greatest part of those other Points which the Protestants will not by any means receive And that this is their Resolution and Sense appears evidently by those many Books which they have written upon this Subject wherein they shew Historically the whole Progress of this Decay in Christianity as well in its Faith as in its Polity and Discipline And truly this their Design seemeth to be very sufficient and satisfactory For seeing that they propose nothing Positively and as an Article of Faith Necessary to Salvation which may not easily and plainly be proved out of the Scripture they have no need to make use of any other Principle for the Demonstration of the Truth Furthermore seeing that those Positive Articles of Faith which they believe are in a manner all of them received and confessed by the Church of Rome as we have said before in the Preface to this Treatise there is no need of troubling a Mans self to prove the same those things which both Parties are agreed upon being never to be proved but are always presupposed in all Disputations Yet notwithstanding if any one have a mind to be informed what the Belief of the Fathers hath been touching the said Articles it is an easie matter for them to make it appear that they also believed all of them as well as themselves as for Example That there is a God a Christ a Salvation a Sacrament of Baptism a Sacrament of the Eucharist and the like Truths the greatest part whereof we have formerly set down in the Beginning of this Discourse And as for those other Articles which are proposed to the World besides all these by the Church of Rome it is sufficient for them that they are able to answer the Arguments which are brought to prove them and to make it by this means appear that they have not any sure Ground at all and consequently neither may nor ought to be received into the Faith of Christians And this is the Vse that the Protestants make of the Fathers evidently making it appear to the World out of them that they did not hold the said Articles as the Church of Rome doth at this day So that their alledging of the Fathers to this purpose onely and indeed their Whole Practice in these Disputes declare evidently enough that they conceive not the Belief of the Church of Rome to be so perfectly and exactly conformable to that of Antiquity especially of the Four or Five First Ages which accords very well with their Hypothesis touching the Corruption of the Christian Doctrine But yet no Man may conclude from hence That they do allow of the Authority of the Fathers as a sufficient Foundation to ground any Article of Faith upon for this is repugnant both to their Doctrine and to the Protestation which they upon all occasions make expresly to the contrary So that I cannot but extremely wonder at the Proceeding of some of our Modern Authors who in their Disputations with the Protestants endeavour to prove the Articles of their Faith by Testimonies brought out of the Fathers whereas the Protestants never go about to make good their own Opinions but onely to overthrow those of their Adversaries by urging the Fathers Testimonies For seeing that they of the Church of Rome maintain That the Church neither hath nor can possibly err in Points of Faith and That its Belief in Matters of Faith hath always been the same that it is at this day it is sufficient for the Protestant to shew by comparing the Doctrine of the Ancient Fathers with that of the Church of Rome that there is great Difference betwixt them neither doth this in any wise bind them to believe throughout whatsoever the Fathers believed it being evident according to their Hypothesis that there may have some Errors crept into their Belief though certainly not such nor so gross ones as have been since entertained by the Church in the Ages succeeding We shall conclude therefore That the Protestants acknowledge not neither in the Fathers nor in their Writings any so Absolute Authority as renders them capable of being received by us as our Supreme Judges in Matters of Religion and such from whom no Appeal can be made Whence it will follow That although the Fathers might really perhaps have such an Authority yet notwithstanding could not their Definitive Sentence put an end to any of our Controversies and therefore it concerns the Church of Rome to have