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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14435	A very Christian, learned, and briefe discourse, concerning the true, ancient, and Catholicke faith, against all wicked vp-start heresies seruing very profitably for a preseruatiue against the profane nouelties of papists, Anabaptists, Arrians, Brownists, and all other sectaries. First composed by Vincentius Lirinensis in Latine, about twelue hundreth yeares ago. And now faithfully translated into English, and illustrated with certaine marginall notes. By Thomas Tuke.; Pro catholicae fidei antiquitate libellus. English	Vincent, of Lérins, Saint, d. ca. 450.; Tuke, Thomas, d. 1657. aut	1611 (1611)	STC 24753; ESTC S102090	49,335	192

it listed to smite them downe as from some place on high Then were wiues defiled widdowes robd Virgins deflowred Monasteries demolished Cleargy-men disturbed Leuites beaten Priests banished prisons gaoles and mynes filled with the Saints the greatest part of whom being driuen out of Citties forbidden to them and exiled were euen broken and consumed with nakednesse hunger and thirst amongst deserts dens wild beasts and rockes But all these things did they for no other cause befall but euen because the superstitions of mans inuentions were taught for heauenly doctrine because well-grounded antiquity was vedermined by wicked nouelty because the ordinances of the Elders were violated because the decrees of the Fathers were repealed because the determinations of the Ancient were disanulled and for that the lust of profane and vpstart curiosity contained not it selfe within the most chaste limits of sacred and vncorrupt Antiquity CHAP. 7. BVt it will bee thought perhaps wee faine these things through hatred of nouelty and loue of Antiquity Whosoeuer iudgeth this let him giue credit at the least to blessed Ambrose who in his second book to the Emperour Gratian himselfe bewailing the bitternes of the time saith But now almighty God quoth he we haue beene sufficiently punished by our owne destruction and bloud-shed for the slaughters of the Confessours the banishments of the Priests and for such wicked villany It is cleare enough that they which violated the faith cannot be safe In like manner in the third booke of the same worke Let vs therefore keepe saith he the commandements of the Elders that wee be not bold through vnciuill rashnesse to breake the seales that are hereditary Neither the Elders nor the Power nor the Angels nor Archangels durst open that sealed booke of prophecy the prerogatiue of explaning that was reserued for Christ alone Which of vs dares vnseale the Sacerdoticall Booke sealed of Confessours and consecrated now with the martyrdome of many which they that haue bene compelled to vnseale it yet afterwards haue sealed when the fraud was condemned they that durst not violate it were Confessours and Martyrs How can wee deny their faith whose victory we do extoll Wee praise them I say O venerable Ambrose wee praise them indeed and praysing wee wonder at them For who is he that is so mad who though he be not able to ouertake them yet would not wish to follow whom no violence hath driuen from defending of the faith of the Elders Not threatnings not flatterings not life not death not the palace not Sergeants not the Emperour not the Empire not men not diuels Whom I say the Lord for their constant imbracing of holy Antiquity deemed meete for so great an office as by them to repaire Churches ruinated to quicken spirituall people extinguished to put on the Crownes of Priests that were deiected to deface a fountaine of vnfeigned teares being infused from heauen into the Bishops those wicked I say not letters but litures blots or dashes of nouell impiety and finally to call back now almost all the world being strucken with the tempest of suddaine heresie I say to call it backe to the ancient faith from vp-start falshood vnto ancient soundnesse from furious and vnsound newnesse and to the ancient light from the blindnesse of nouelty CHAP. 8. BVt in this certaine Diuine vertue of Confessions that we are also euen most of all to mark that then in the very Antiquity of the Church they vndertooke the defence not of some part but of the whole body For it was not lawful for mē so great and of such quality to mantaine with so great contention indeauour the straggling selfe-thwarting coniectures of one or two or to striue for the rash consent of some little Prouince but following the decrees and determinations of Apostolique and Catholicke truth made by all the Priests of the holy Church they choosed rather to betray themselues then the faith which was held of old vniuersally Whereby they obtained also so great a degree of glory as that they were rightly and worthily counted not Confessours only but the Principall of Confessours also It behoueth therefore all true Catholikes vncessantly to meditate on this notable and indeede diuine ensample of those same blessed men who shining like the seuen headed Candlesticke with the seuenfold light of the holy Spirit haue shewed their posterity a most euident way how the boldnesse of prophane nouelty may in all the vaine bablings of errours bee hence forth cooled with the authority of sacred Antiquity CHAP. 9. NEither is this a new thing truly for this custome was alwaies vsed in the Church that the more any man flourished in religion the more ready he was to withstand nouell deuices The world is full of such examples But for breuity sake wee will make choyce of some one and this especially from the Apostolicke Sea In times past therefore Agrippinus of venerable memory Bishop of Carthage held rebaptization first of all men against the Canon of the Word against the Rule of the Uniuersall Church against the iudgement of all his Fellow-priests against the manner and customes of the Elders The which presumption caused so great a mischiefe as that it ministred a forme of sacrilege not onely to all heretickes but gaue occasion of error to some Catholickes also When as all men therefore euery where vpon the nouelty of the thing cryed out against it all the Priests on euery side did euery one indeuour to resist it then Pope Stephen of happy memory Bishop of the Apostolike See with the rest of his Fellowes but yet aboue the rest withstood it deeming it as I suppose a thing beseeming if hee did excell all the rest as much by deuout affection to the faith as hee did surpasse them by the authority of place Finally in an Epistle which was sent into Affrica the said Stephen ordeined in these words That nothing should bee renewed but that which is deliuered For that holy and wise man knew that piety doth nothing else allow of but that all things should with the same faithfulnesse bee reteined for the Children with the which they were receiued of the Fathers and that we ought to follow religion not which way wee would lead it but rather by that way it would lead vs and that that is the propertie of Christian modesty and grauity for men not to deliuer their owne deuices to them that so come after but to keepe the things receiued of their Elders What therefore was the issue then of all the matter Surely what else but that which was vsuall and accustomed Antiquity namely reteined and nouelty exploded CHAP. 10. BVt peraduenture then that new deuise was destitute of means to defēd beare it out Yea verily there was for it so great acutenes of wit so great aboundance of eloquence so great a number of maintainers so great likelihood of truth so many Oracles of Gods word but

in the end of this second Aduertisement which haue ben spoken of in these two We haue sayd before that this hath euer bene and is also at this day the custome of Catholickes to proue the true saith these two wayes First by the authority of Gods word Secondly by the tradition of the Catholike Church not because the word alone is not sufficient of it selfe for all matters but because many whiles they expound the Scriptures as they list themselues they conceiue sundry opinions and errors And therefore that it is necessary that the interpretation of the heauenly Scripture should bee directed by the alone Rule of Ecclesiastical iudgement or vnderstanding especially in those questions at least on which the grounds of all the Catholicke doctrine are layed In like maner we haue sayd that we should againe haue regard in the Church her-selfe vnto the consent of All in generall and also of Antiquity least we should either bee broken off from the whole body of the Church being vnited and coupled together and so become Schismatickes or else be cast head-long from the antient religion into nouell heresies We haue also sayd that in the very antiquity of the Church two certaine things are earnestly and carefully to be obserued to which all that would not be Heretiques should throughly cleaue first if any thing hath bene of antient time decreed of all the Priests of the Catholicke Church by the authority of a generall Councell secondly if any strange question should arise when that in no wise might be found that recourse should be had to the iudgements of the holy Fathers of those onely which in their times and places conteining all of them in the vnity of fellowship and of the Faith were commendable Teachers And that whatsoeuer they should be found to haue held with one meaning and consent that it should without any scruple be iudged of the Church to be true and Catholicke CHAP. 42. VVHich-least we should seeme to set abroach through our owne presumption rather then by Ecclesiasticall authority we haue vsed the example of an holy Councell which was held almost three yeares since at Ephesus in Asia those most excellent men Bassus and Antiochus being Consuls Where when there was dispute about the confirming of the Rules of Faith least perhaps any profane noueltie should steale in there after the manner of the o Ariminian Councels vnfaithfull dealing this seemed to all the Priests which had come thither to the number almost of two hundreth to be a thing most Catholicke most commodious and best to be done that the iudgements of the holy Fathers should be brought foorth and shewed of whom it should be manifest that some were Martyrs others Confessors but that all had bene and had continued Catholicke Priests that so by their consent and decree the religion of the ancient doctrine might well and solemnly be confirmed and the blasphemy of wicked nouelty condemned Which when it was so done then was that foresaid Nestorius iudged contrary to Catholicke Antiquity but blessed Cyril to consent vnto it And that the truth of those things might in no wise be called into question we haue also shewed the names and number though we had forgotten the ranke of those Fathers according to whose order therein concording and vnanimous iudgement both the sentences of holy Writ were expounded and the rule of diuine doctrine established Whom for the strengthening of our memorie it is not superfluous here also to recite These therefore are the men whose writings either as of Iudges or as it were of Witnesses were in that Councell shewed and recited S. Peter of Alexandria a Bishop a most excellent Teacher and a most blessed Martyr S. Athanasius a Prelate of the same Citty a most faithfull Teacher and a most worthy Confessor Saint Theophilus a Bishop of the same Citie too a man very famous for his religion life and learning whom worthy Cyril did succeed who doth at this time make the Church of Alexandria famous And least it should perhaps be thought to be the doctrine of one City Prouince there were ioyned also those Lights of Cappadocia S. Gregory Bishop and Confessor of Nazianzum S. Basil Bishop and Confessor of Caesarea in Cappadocia as also the other S. Gregory Bishop of Nysse and for his faith conuersation vprightnesse and wisedome a man most worthy of his brother Basil But that it might be proued that not Greece alone or that the East onely but that the Weasterne and Latine world was alwayes also of that iudgement certaine Epistles also were there read written to certaine men by Saint Foelix a Martyr and S. Iulius Bishops of the City of Rome And that not only the head of the world but that the sides also might giue testimony to that iudgement there was taken from the South most blessed Cyprian Bishop of Carthage and a Martyr and from the North Saint Ambrose Bishop of Millaine All these ten therefore were at Ephesus produced as Teachers Counsellers Witnesses and Iudges whose doctrine counsell witnesse and iudgemēt that blessed Synode mainteining following crediting and obeying did readily discreetly vnpartially giue sentence concerning the Rules of Faith Although a farre greater number of Elders might haue bene ioyned to these yet it was not needfull because it was not sitting that the time allotted for that businesse should be taken vp and spent with producing of a multitude of Witnesses and for that euery man is perswaded that those ten did differ nothing in a maner in iudgement from all their other fellowes After all which things we haue also annexed the holy iudgement of Cyril which things are conteined in the ecclesiasticall acts For after that the Epistle of S. Capreolus Bishop of Carthage was read who laboured and intreated no other thing but that Noueltie being conuinced Antiquity might be beleeued Bishop Cyril spake and defined to the same effect the which it seemeth not vnfitting for the matter in hand here also to interpose For hee saith in the end of the Acts And this Epistle which was read quoth he of the reuerend very religious Bishop of Carthage Capreolus shall bee faithfully recorded whose iudgement is manifest for hee would haue the doctrines of the ancient faith confirmed but nouell conceipts and such as are superfluously deuised and wickedly published to bee reiected and condemned All the Bishops cryed together in signe of approbation These are the words of vs all we do all affirme these things this is the wish of vs all And what I pray you were the words and the wishes of all but that That should bee embraced which was anciently deliuered and that That should be banished which was newly deuised After which things we wondred at told of the great humility and holinesse of that Councell and what a number of Priests there were the greater part welneere being Metropolitanes of such knowledge and so well learned as that almost all of them were able to dispute of

seeme to bee pointed at rather then vnfolded Let them write delicately and with accuratenesse that are led thereunto through confidence of their wit or by reason of their office but for me it shall be sufficient that I haue prepared a Remembrancer for my selfe to helpe my memory or rather to preuent my forgetfulnesse the which yet I will endeauour through the Lords assistance to mend and perfite dayly by reuoluing and calling to mind the things that I haue learned And this I haue said before hand that if happily ought of ours shall come into the hands of the Saints they would reprehend nothing therein rashly which they may see by promise yet to be amended CHAP. 1. INquiring therefore oftentimes with great care and very singular diligence of very many excellent men both for holinesse and learning how I might by some certaine and as it were generall and regular way discerne the truth of the Catholicke faith from the falsehood of wicked heresies I receiued this answere alwaies from them all almost That if either I or any other would finde out the wiles of vpstart Hereticks and escape their snares and continue sound and whole in a sound faith he must fortifie his faith through the Lords assistance with a two-fold fence namely first with the authority of Gods word and then also with the tradition of the Catholicke Church CHAP. 2. HEre it may be some man will aske Seeing the Canon of the Scriptures is perfect and that it is aboundantly sufficient of it selfe to all things what need is there that the authority of the Churches vnderstanding should be ioyned therunto Surely because al mē do not after one manner vnderstand the holy Scripture according to the height thereof but diuers men interpret the sentences thereof diuersly that there may seeme to be as many meanings thereof almost as men For Nouatian expounds it one way Photinus another way Sabellius thus Donatus otherwise Arrius Eunomius Macedonius other waies Appollinaris Priscillianus by themselues Iouinianus Pelagius Celestius another way and finally Nestorius hath a sence by himselfe And therefore by reason of so great deceipts and windings of so different errours it is very necessary that a man should interpret the Prophets and Apostles according as the Catholicke Church doth vnderstand them CHAP. 3. IN like manner euen in the Catholike Church wee must haue a speciall regard that we hold that which is Euery where beleeued alwaies of all for this is truly and properly Catholike as the very force reason of the name declareth which comprehendeth al things truly vniuersally Now this we shall doe if we follow Vniuersality Antiquity and Consent And wee shall follow Vniuersality thus namely if we do confesse this one faith to be true which the whole Church through out the world confesseth We shall follow Antiquity if by no meanes we reiect those interpretations which we know to haue bene vsed and esteemed of our holy Elders and Forefathers And Consent in like sort also if euer in Antiquity we follow the determinations and iudgements of all or surely of almost all Priests and Doctors CHAP. 4. VVHat then shal a Christian Catholicke do if some few members of the Church shall cut themselues from the fellowship of the Catholicke Faith Surely what else but preferre the soundnesse of the whole body before a noysom and corrupt member And what if some new contagion shall indeuour the corruption not of some small part of the Church onely but euen of the whole body thereof also In like manner then he shall bee carefull to cleaue fast vnto Antiquity which cannot now wholly be seduced by any nouell deceipt And what if euen in Antiquity it selfe the errour of two or three or of a Citty or of some Prouince be found out Then his whole care shall be to prefer the decrees of the Vniuersal Church vniuersally of old maintained to the rashnesse or ignorance if any such be of some few persons But what if some such thing breake out where nothing of that nature may be found Then shall hee compare the sentences and opinions of the Fathers together and take Counsell of them of those Fathers or Elders I meane onely which though they liued not in one age and place did yet continue in the fellowship and faith of one Catholicke Church were laudable Teachers and whatsoeuer he shall perceiue that not one or two alone but that all alike with one and the same consent did openly commonly and constantly hold write and teach let him know that the same of him also is without any scruple to bee beleeued But that those things which wee say may be made more plaine they are each of them to be cleered by examples and to be a little more enlarged least through affectation of too much breuity the weight of things bee not perceiued by reason of passing so swiftly ouer them in our speech CHAP. 5. IN the time of Donatus from whom sprang the Donatists when as a great part of Aphrica had throwne themselues headlong into his furious errours and when vnmindfull of their honour religion and profession they did preferre the sacrilegious headines of one man to the Church of Christ then those Africans could of them all alone be safe within the sanctuaries of the Catholicke faith which hauing that wicked Schisme in detestation adioyned themselues to all the Churches of the world leauing in truth a notable paterne to them that should come after namely how and that also well the soundnesse of all might be preferred before the fury of one or but a few CHAP. 6. IN like manner when as the poyson of the Arrians had now corrupted not some fewe but almost all the world so as that well neere all the Latine Bishops being deceiued partly by force and partly by fraude knew not well by reason of a certaine kinde of blindnesse which had inuaded their vnderstandings what course they were best to follow when things were so confused then whosoeuer was a true Louer worshipper of Christ the same by making more accoūt of the ancient-faith thē of nouel-falshood was preserued from all infections of that contagious doctrine The danger in truth of which time hath aboundantly shewed what great calamity the bringing in of that vpstart doctrine caused For then were shaken not small things onely but euen the greatest also For not onely alliances kindreds friendships and houses were dissolued but also Cities People Prouinces Nations yea and the whole Romane Empire was vtterly shaken and put out of order For when that profane noueltie of the Arrians as a certaine Bellona or Furia had first captiuated the Emperour and then brought all the chiefest about him vnder new lawes it ceased not afterwards to trouble disorder all things priuat and publicke facred and profane and to haue no regard of that which was good and true but whomsoeuer

well qualified whiles he doth insolently abuse the grace of God whiles he makes too much of his own wit and thinks so well of himself whiles he contēneth the ancient simplicity of Christian religion whiles he presumes he is wiser then all men and whiles that contemning the traditions of the Church and the maisterships of the Elders he doth after a new manner expound certaine places of the Scriptures he hath deserued that it should be sayd vnto the Church of God concerning him also If there arise among you a Prophet And a little after Thou shalt not quoth he listen to the words of that Prophet And againe Because the Lord your God saith he tryeth you whether ye will loue him or no. It was indeed not onely a temptation but euen a great temptation to remoue the Church being giuen vnto him and depending vpon him and through wondring at his wit learning eloquence conuersation and reputation suspecting him not nor fearing him to remoue the Church I say all vpon the sudden by little and little from the ancient Religion to nouell profanenesse But some man will say that the bookes of Origen are corrupted I gain say it not but had rather too it were so For that is both deliuered and written of some not onely Catholikes but also Heretiques But that is it which now we are to marke that although he himselfe bee not yet the bookes which are publiked vnder his name are a great temptation which being pestered with many wounds of blasphemies are both read embraced not as other mens but as his owne so that although Origen did not conceiue the error yet Origens authority may seeme powerfull to perswade the error CHAP. 24. BVt Tertullians cōdition also is euen the same For as he among the Greekes so this man among the Latines is without doubt to bee reputed the chiefest of all our men For who more learned then this man who more exercised in diuinity and in humanity For verily he did with a certaine admirable capacity of vnderstanding vnderstand compasse al Philosophy and all the sects of the Phylosophers the authors abettours of the sects and all their doctrines and all manner of stories and studies And did hee not excell for a wit so graue and vehement as that he propounded almost nothing to himselfe to vanquish which he did not either breake into with acutenesse or strike out with weightinesse Moreouer who can expresse the praises of his speech which was replenished with such I wot not what vrgent arguments as that whom he could not perswade he forced to consent vnto him whose sentences were almost as many as words and as many victories as reasons This knew the Martionists Apelles the Praxeans Hermogenes the Iewes Gentiles Gnostickes and the rest whose blasphemies he ouerthrew with his manifold great volumes as with certaine lightenings And yet this man also I say this Tertullian being vnmindfull of the Catholicke doctrine that is the vniuersall and ancient faith and much more eloquent thē happy changing his iudgment afterwards wrought that at last which the blessed Confessour Hilarie writeth of him in a certaine place By the error quoth he which he fell afterwards into he made the workes which he wrote well to loose their reputation And hee himselfe was also a great temptation in the Church But of him I will say no more This thing I will onely mention that because hee did against the commandement of Moses affirme that the new braine-sicke doctrines of Montanus arising in the Church and that those madde conceits of mad women euen the dreames of an vpstart doctrine were true prophecies he did deserue that it should be said of him also and of his writings If a Prophet shall arise among you And againe Thou shalt not heare the words of that Prophet Why so Because saith he the Lord your God tryeth you whether you will loue him or not By these therfore so many and so great examples in the Church and by the rest of that nature we ought euidently to marke and to know more clearely then the light that if euer any teacher in the Church shall wander from the faith the prouidence of God doth suffer it to be done for our tryall to proue whether we loue the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soule or no. CHAP. 25. VVHich things seeing they so stand he is a true and right Catholicke who loueth the truth of God the Church the body of Christ and who preferres nothing to Gods Religion nothing to the Catholicke faith not the authority not the loue not the wit not the eloquence nor the philosophy of any man but contemning all these things and abiding firme and stedfast in the faith doth iudge that whatsoeuer he shall vnderstand to bee vniuersally held of old of the Catholicke Church himselfe should hold and beleeue alone but whatsoeuer nouell and strange doctrine hee shall perceiue to bee priuily brought in after by any one besides or against the iudgement of all the Saints hee knowes that it belongs not to religion but rather to tentation And is also especially by the speeches of the blessed Apostle Paul instructed for this is that which hee writeth in his first Epistle to the Corinthes There must bee saith he heresies euen among you that they which are approued among you might be knowen As if hee should say for this cause the Authors of heresies are not presently rooted out by God that they which are approued might be seene that is that it might appeare how sure faithful and constant a louer of the Catholick faith euery mā is And in truth when euery nouelty cometh vp the weightinesse of the Corne and the lightnesse of the Chaffe is presently perceiued at which time that is easily shaken frō the Floore which was held with no weight within the Floore For some doe forthwith flye quite away but others being onely driuen out doe both feare to perish and blush to returne being wounded halfe dead and halfe aliue as haiung drunke such a quantity of poyson as neither kild them nor was digested as would neither make them dye nor suffer them to liue Oh miserable condition with what waues of care with what whirlwinds are they tossed For somtimes which way the wind shal driue thē they are carried with a violent error sometimes returning to themselues they are beatē back like cōtrary waues somtimes by rash presumptiō they allow of those things which seeme vncertaine sometimes also through a reasonlesse feare they are afraid of those things that are certaine being vncertaine which way to go which way to returne what to follow what to fly what to hold what to let go Which afflictiō verily of a doubting wauering hart is the medicine of Gods mercy towards them if they would be wise For therefore are they tossed beaten and almost killed with sundry tempests of thoughts out of the most quiet

that goes about to prohibite that But yet let it be so that it may be indeed a proceeding not a changing of the Faith For that is to profite that euery thing bee increased in it selfe but that is changing when a thing is altered from one thing to another It behoueth therefore that the vnderstanding knowledge and wisedome as well of each as of all as well of one man as of the whole Church should by the degrees of ages and times increase and profite much and greatly but yet in their owne kind onely to wit in the same doctrine in the same sense and in the same iudgement CHAP. 29. LEt the religion of soules resemble the state and nature of bodies which although in the processe of yeares they declare and finish their proportions and degrees yet do they continue still the same which they were at first There is much difference betwixt the flower of Child-hood and the ripenesse of Old-age but yet the very self-same men become old which had bene yong that albeit the very state and quality of one and the same man bee altered yet is he neuerthelesse one and the same nature one and the selfe-same person The members of sucking children are small but of young men great yet are they the very selfe-same As many as are the ioynts of little ones so many are there of men and if those be any which come forth in riper yeares they be now already planted in the nature of the seede so that no new thing comes out in old men after which did not now before lye within them hid in their childhood Whence it is manifest that this is the lawful and right Rule of profiting that this is the certaine and most excellent order of increasing if so be that the number and degrees of age do alway discouer those parts and formes when wee are greater or elder which the wisedome of our Creator did forme before when wee were little If that the shape of man should afterwards be changed into the shape of another kinde or if at the least wise the number of the members should be increased or decreased the whole body must of necessity either perish or become monstrous or at the least be weakened So also it is fitting that the doctrine of Christian religion should follow these rules or fashions of increasing namely that it should bee strengthened by yeares inlarged by time extolled with age but yet remain incorrupted and pure and bee compleat and perfect in all the measures of her parts and in al her owne members as it were and senses as which more ouer admitteth no change no losse of property nor indureth any variety of definition CHAP. 30. FOr examhle sake our Elders sowed of old the Wheaten seedes of the faith in this Corne field of the Church it is vniust and vnbeseeming that wee their Posterity instead of the naturall and true Wheate should make choice of the Cockle of errour put into the roome thereof But this rather is right and agreeable that the beginnings and the endings being correspondent to each other we should reape and enioy of the increasings of a wheaten institution the fruit or graine also of wheaten doctrine that whenas somthing out of those beginnings of the seeds is by processe of time shot vp it may now both flourish and be trimmed vp by husbanding yet so as that nothing of the property of the sprout bee changed though forme shape and distinction bee added that yet the nature of euery kinde abide the same For God forbid that those rosy plants of Catholicke iudgment should bee turned into Thistles Thornes Farre be it I say that in this spirituall Paradise Darnell and Woolfe-bane should all vpon the sudden come from the sets and shootes of Cynnamon and Balme Whatsoeuer therefore is faithfully sowen of the Fathers in the Church which is Gods Husbandry it behooueth that by the labour of the children the very same should be husbanded and lookt vnto it is fitting that the very same should flourish and ripen that the same should grow come to perfectiō For it is lawfull that those ancient doctrines of heauenly Philosophy should in processe of time bee exactly handled trimmed and polished but it is vnlawful that they should be changed it is vnlawfull to mangle and to maime them They may lawfully receiue clearenesse light and distinction but it is needfull that they should reteine fulnesse soundnesse and property CHAP. 31. FOr if this licentiousnesse of wicked deceit be once permitted I tremble to vtter what great danger may ensue of rooting out and abolishing of religion For when any part of the Catholicke doctrine shall be reiected others also and others after them one after another will now as it were by custome and lawe be reiected and done away Moreouer also when the parts are each of them seuerely reiected what will follow at the last but that the whole should in like manner be refused Yea and contrariwise if nouelties shall begin to be mingled with antient doctrines and forreine with domesticall and profane with sacred it cannot be but that this fashion will spread it selfe ouer all that nothing in the Church wil hereafter bee left vntouched nothing sound nothing vncorrupted but that the Stewes of wicked and filthy errours should afterwards be there where there was aforetime the Sanctuary of the chast and vndefiled truth But let godly deuotion driue this wickednesse from mens minds and let this rather bee the fury of the wicked CHAP. 32. BVt the Church of Christ being a diligent and wary Keeper of the Doctrines that are cōmitted to her doth alter nothing in them at any time diminisheth nothing addeth nothing shee cuts not off things that are necessary she ads not things superfluous she looseth not her owne she vsurps not strangers but this one thing she studies with all diligence namely that by handling the antient doctrines faithfully and discreetly she might perfit and polish those if any that haue bene shaped and begun of old and if any be already perfectly declared and made manifest that she might confirme strengthen them and that if any be now confirmed and defined she might conserue and keepe them To conclude what else did she euer labour by the Decrees of Councels then that the selfe-same thing which was simply beleeued afore might more carefully bee beleeued after that the very same thing which was more slackly preached before might be more diligently preached after that the very same thing which was more carelesly kept before might more carefully be husbanded after This thing I say she hath aimed at alwayes and at nothing else being stirred vp with the nouelties of Heretiques The Catholicke Church be the decrees of her Councells hath done nothing but that what she had receiued before of the Elders onely by tradition she might moreouer set the same thing downe in hand-writing for those also that shold come after comprehending a

neere the Church in the Inner Temple 1611. a In Natiu Dom. Ser. 4. Nisi vna est fides non est b Eccles 10. 15. c Psal 119. 105. d 2. Tim. 3. 16 e Aug. ep 48. Audi dicit Dominus non dicit Don●● c. f Is 8. 20. g Per Scripturam Deus loquitur omne quod vult Moral l. 16. c. 16. h Psal 25. 9. 12. 14. i Ioh. 16. 23. 1. Sam. 11. 2. Iohn 5. 39. o Indeede Christ lay at the Pass but that he did so at the last Supper the Scripture sayes not * Kneeling at Communion as it is required of the Church of England lawfull 1. Cor. 5 11. * Ego te non Catilmae aduersus patriā sed patriae aduer sus Caulinam gonui Quest An. * Iam. 4. 6. * 1. Pet 5. 5. Psal 25. 9. * Psal 119. 34. 66. * So called of Lerme or Lerina an Iland in the Mediterraneā sea where he liued a Deut 32. 7 e Pro. 22. 17. 3. 1. o This word signifies a pilgrime or stranger a word befitting al Christian men vnder this name our Author puts forth his Booke concealing his owne proper name least the Aduersary should reiect the worke for the workemans sake Or it may be a read peregrin a pilgrime or a stranger Psal 46. 10. a By not For the Ancients knew no merits but Christs They preached mercy not merit b That is with the helpe of God for to do a thing in the name of God is either to doe it to Gods glory or by his power authority or else as here by his grace or with confidence of his assistance as ● Psa 20. 5. c Not which himselfe hath forged vpon the anuill of his owne wit * He meanes especially such as are Saints not in respect of grace onely but of place as Bishops other Ministers whose office is holy d That is their deceit full reasons wherby they seeke to catch intangle men Quest Ans Quest Ans Quest. Ans Quest Ans Quest. Ans * Or especiall duntaxat * Latini sermonis that spake the Latine tongue d Bellona Furia were two heathen god desses the one was ouer war the other was the mother of fury c He means Constantius or Valens or both who were Arrians both f Or principall Courtiers g Antiquity acknowledgeth men liuing to bee Saints not dead men onely as some do h Heretiks break from their teachers exorbitate go an whoring after the idols of their owne braines * In sine cap. vlt. Reu. 5. 3. 5. i That is the holy Scriptures so called because it is giuen them to keep and teach I meane Ministets which book is then said to be vnsealed in our Authors sense when it is violated and corrupted k That is the Ministers of the Gospell so called because they did offer the people to God as a sacrifice killing their flesh with the Word as with a sacrifycing Knife l He alludes to the Candlesticke in Exod. 25. m Or ouerthrowen quasht stayed broken c●nteratur n Or against the custome ordin ances contra morem instituta Apud Cypri Lib. 2. Ep. 7. Obiect Ans Gen. 9. o By faith is not meant the gift of faith but the doctrine not by which but which wee do beleeue a Gal. 1. b 2. Tim. 4. c 1. Tim. 5. d Rom. 16. 17 e 2. Tim. 3. 6. f Tit. 1. 10. 11 g 2. Tim. 3. 8. h 1. Tim. 6. 4 ● i 1. Tim. 5. 13 k 1. Tim. 1. 19 l 2. Tim. 2. 17 m 2 Tim. 3. 9 o He alludes to Pedlars that go vp and downe to sell their Wares Gal. 1. 8. Quest Answer o He means not Faith whereby we do beleeue but which we doe belieue that is the doctrine of Faith which was once for euer deliuered to the Saints as in Iud. 3. Obiect Sol. Gal. 1. ● * Or infectious contagious Obiect Sol. Gal 2. 25. 26. Obiect Sol Gal. 5. 16. o There are now two sorts of Catholiks Christian Antichristiā the former are reall the other as the Iesuits are nominall titular * He alludeth to that in Act. 9. 15. * This he saith to shew the abhominablenes of their errours Quest Ans Deut. 13. 1. 2 ' a Deut. 13. 2. b Deut. 13. 3. c Or inhibit hinder let * Or teacher False teachers are called Wolues because they bite and deuoure the Sheep of Christ with their wicked errours and like Wolues they are not of the Sheepeheards feeding but his foes e He was Bishop of the Sirmitan Church But a Galatian borne skilfull in the Greeke and Latine tongues he fostered a blasphemous error against Christ and being a man of good parts otherwise ouerthrew himselfe with pride a moath that frets the cushion in which it bred as some Ancients say f Such an one is euery godly and orthodoxall Bishop and Pastor who goes before his fellowes the Sheepe of Christ in life and doctrine ringging the word of God in their eares being at the controll of the chiefe Sheepheard as well as the meanest in the flock g Humility is the nurse of verity pride curiosity be the founders of heresie a Christ is called the Word because he is begotten of the Father as words are of the mind and because hee shewes his Fathers mind vnto vs. e Non The●t ocos●sed Christoto●os Rom. 7. 13. i Lo the fond cōceit of this heretique The Colt ruins if he haue the reines o Not rage but zeale makes him thus to speake A dog will bawle bite a mad dog will not stick to bite his maister and that which he should not such are false teachers o Alius alius non aliud aliud Quest Ans Quest. Ans o Or thus is according to knowledge sayd to be created euen as in c u Psal 22. 16. a Dei non Deitatis of God not of the God head for so hee had no mother e She was holy not by generation but by regeneratiō her Sonne that tooke flesh of her gaue grace to her * Or preach * At the first sight before matters were scanned a He was the sonne of Leonides who dyed a Martyr vnder Seuerus e For his fathers goods were consiscated to Seuerus He cals his pouerty Holy because it befel him by tyranny for religion sake Cuius scientiae um Graeel encederent Obiect Sol. Obiect Sol. Obiect n Mammaa o So Cicero of Plato l. 1. Tusc quaest u He meaneth their authority Deut. 13. 1. * Or committed deliuered addicted bent * S. Ierome thinkes not so vide Epis ad Panimachium et Oceanum * Or conceipts and opinions sensus a He meaneth Priscilla and Maximil a two Montanists Deut. 13. 3. e Not cause but suffer i A quiēt hauen indeed for out of this harbour men are either tossed vpon the waues of errour or swallowed vp o For a vessell is not capable of wine till the water or dregs that filled be emptied out Pro. 22. 28. Eccles. 8. 17. Ecc. 10. 8. u 1. Tim. 6. 20. 21. a Cainophonias siue Cenephonias Pron 9. 15. 16. i Furtim o Terrigenae * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 6. 20. Exod. 36. 1. * Or after a new fashion Noue non noua Quest. Ans o To proceed or make progresse o Laetetur be manured for laetamen is manure which being layd on the ground doth make it flourish Pallad lib. 1. vseth this word In laetandis inquit arboribus crs tes facicmus u 2. Cor. 3. 9. a An errour stifly mainteined is a filthy harlot * Or barely 1. Tim. 6. 20. 1. Cor. 5. 11. 2. Ioh. 10. 2. Ioh. 11. o Porrò fiue procul a sano * Or opinion concerning things or matters * Or the continent the virgins e Acts 8. 21. i That is Heretickes count is a Law and make it as a Trade * Or which the holy Fathers left in their custody Diposit● patrum Gal. 1. 9. Quest Ans o So he calleth pestilent and pernicious Teachers whose errors are as plague-soares rotten and infectious u Or drugs Math. 7. 15. Math. 7. 16. 2 Cor. 11. 13. o Or word u vers 14. 15. Quest An. Mat. 4. 5. Luk. 4. 9. Psal 91. 11. a These words are not in the Gospell though in the Psalme c That is the Diuell to Iesus and Hereticks to true Catholikes 1 Tim. 3. 15. Quest. Ans * He is said to steale the truth which writhes the Scriptures to his owne opinion or errour peruerting their meaning * Or Scriptures * For the person doth not commend the faith but faith the person 1. Cor. 12. 28. Acts 11. 27. 28. 1. Cor. 1. 10. 1. Cor. 14. 33. Uers 36. Vers 37. Uers 38. Which receiued Ualens the Arrian hauing before condemned him * Ad verb. to sacred Antiquity * Perhaps it shold be read Bishop of Alex. for the Comma is wanting in some bookes * Ad verb. of the sacred number of the Decalogue * That is the whole Church o For Papa Pope is Fatheria name of old giuen to other Bishops thē the Romane Ephes 4. 5. * All corrupt cōceits of men are no better then mud or mine they are foule filthy and therefore to be shunned of such as would not be desiled * Or forsaking the ancient Religiō through silence Quest Ans * That is which the holy Fathers agreeing in Christ held of old before 1. Tim. ● Gal. 1. o Hee that hath not the Church for his mother hath not God for his father nor Christ for his brother * Or mended and repaired