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A15739 A trial of the Romish clergies title to the Church by way of answer to a popish pamphlet written by one A.D. and entituled A treatise of faith, wherein is briefly and plainly shewed a direct way, by which euery man may resolue and settle his mind in all doubts, questions and controuersies, concerning matters of faith. By Antonie Wotton. In the end you haue three tables: one of the texts of Scripture expounded or alledged in this booke: another of the testimonies of ancient and later writers, with a chronologie of the times in which they liued: a third of the chiefe matters contained in the treatise and answer. Wotton, Anthony, 1561?-1626. 1608 (1608) STC 26009; ESTC S120318 380,257 454

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if it were the wages of seruants and not the inheritance of children The vniuersal Church as you speake of it is a meere name without any thing answerable to it in nature That which was generally held while the Churches of Christ were not subiect to Antichrist concerning the substance of Religion by which true and false Churches are to be iudged we gladly and constantly maintaine The errors which some men defended and corrupted the Churches withall we refute and reiect But it is no marke of the true Church to hold all that hath bene generally maintained in true Churches but the dutie of it to acknowledge for true whatsoeuer was taught by the Apostles and is recorded in Scripture How far our Church is spread it passeth your skill truly to affirme and we may with good reason perswade our selues that it is in all places where the Gospell is preached and the Scriptures knowne because dayly experience sheweth that it hath some members in those countries where your bloudie and tyrannous butchery of Inquisition doth most rule and vnder the nose of your grand Antichrist in the citie of Rome But it is enough to make it Catholicke that it acknowledgeth it selfe to be common both to Iew and Gentile not tied to any country people or person whatsoeuer as yours is to the Pope and Rome We are not ashamed of Martin Luther whom it pleased God to vse admirably if not miraculously to rake from vnder the ashes the light of the Gospell couered and choked with your errors and superstitions Not as if it had bin al that while out of the world but as one of your owne fellowes speakes of it as being in the eclipse ouershadowed and darkned with the thicke mist of your Popish decrees decretals and schoolmens trickes and other such leud trumpery Our Church that is the true Church of Christ was all that time in the world but not to be seene of euery man though from time to time there were still found some who durst maintaine the truth of Christ against your Antichristian heresies Luthers writings words deeds and manner of death were such as might manifest to all men both his true zeale of the glory of God and Gods especiall fauour to him whatsoeuer such lying sycophants as Prateolus faine If we would stand vpon Apostolicknesse in succession what haue you that we want saue onely that you continue in succession of error longer then we do But it is an idle plea to auouch personall succeeding where there is manifest contrarietie in doctrine by which as we heard out of Tertullian howsoeuer you brag of Apostolicknesse you may be proued not to be Apostolicall We differ not in doctrine touching the fundamentall points of Religion from any true holy Catholicke and Apostolicke Church neither doth your synagogue agree with any such Therfore wheras you demand how we can brag that we haue true faith which is not to be found out of the true Church we answer you as oft we haue done that we are sure the faith we hold is true because it is agreeable to the Scriptures and being so we cannot be out of the true Church as long as we are in the true faith True faith cannot be had by any light or discourse of nature but onely by reuelation from God For neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor the heart of man can imagine what the meanes are whereby God decreed in himselfe to saue those whom he hath chosen to glory Now it was not the purpose of God in these latter times as in the first before the law to reueale his will immediatly from heauen but he sent his Son in the nature of man and that Sonne his Apostles to giue knowledge of those means of saluation both by preaching for that present age wherein they liued and also by writing for that age and all that were to succeed till the end of the world This is all that the Apostle teacheth in the place alledged by you Yet we denie not that the principall ordinary means to bring men to faith is the ministery of man by word of mouth expounding the word wil of God according to the Scriptures First then all men to whom the Scriptures are vouchsafed haue meanes of hearing For in them they may if they will heare men appointed by God speake to their instruction and saluation Secondly the same God hath ordained that besides the former teaching there should be certaine men set apart and deputed for the ministery whose dutie it is to preach in their seuerall charges the word of truth This setting apart deputing is that sending which is now required and is to be performed by such as are shall be authorized to that purpose Thirdly for our particular case we are to vnderstand that Luther and these other worthies by whose ministery it pleased God to reuiue the knowledge of the Gospell decayed were authorized to preach by your congregation which was at that time in apparence the true Church of God Therefore were they sent if your church haue any sending and according to their calling they labored in opening the truth of God as it is reuealed in the Scriptures Thus by the gracious mercie of God it came to passe that they teaching the word of truth found diuers both men and women whose hearts the Lord by his spirit opened so that they embraced the loue of the truth deliuered by them and accepted them for their pastors and submitted themselues to become their flockes By this meanes they had both a generall authoritie to preach from that companie which by profession was the Church and also a particular charge of those who were now become indeed in regard of their professed faith a true Church of God We haue then in our Churches for the late reforming of them first your calling such as it was and secondly the approbation of true Christians of which true Churches consist Therefore by your owne rule since we haue some amongst vs that are sent we may also haue faith and true faith though we abhor your Antichristian heresies To what purpose is this idle discourse but to shew your owne errors We neither looke for nor allow any opinion of extraordinary sending from God because we haue no warrant for any such in the Scriptures But wee say the restorers of the Gospell in this last age had ordinary allowance of that Church which bare the shew of the true Church and professed the beleeuing of the Gospell which is the foundation of the Church But you require peculiar consecration because it pleased God to appoint such a course for the Priesthood of the Law Do you not know that the consecrating and annointing of Aaron was a part of the ceremoniall law signifying the annointing of the spirit which our Sauiour was to receiue to whom according to those shewes the Lord gaue the spirit without measure The consecration that now remaines is nothing but the setting a part
Spirit is vnfallible we are not to doubt but that this companie is in all points infallibly taught the truth If also the same our Sauiour gaue warrant and commandement that they should teach vs and that we should heare them and do in all things according to their saying we may not likewise doubt but that they shall be able to teach all sorts of men in all points the infallible truth and that all sorts of men may if they will learne of that companie what in all points is the infallible truth For otherwise by this generall commaundement of hearing them and doing according to their saying we should be bound somtime to heare and beleeue an vntruth and to doe that which were not vpright and good which without blasphemie to Christ his veritie and goodnesse can no way be thought A. W. 1 If our Sauiour Christ say you hath promised to any companie his presence and assistance of his spirit of purpose to instruct and teach them all truth 2 If he haue giuen them charge and commission to preach to euerie creature 3 If he haue giuen warrant to all that they may safely heare them 4 If he haue giuen commaundement to all to doe in all things according to their saying 5 If he haue threatned them who will not heare and beleeue them 6 If the other conditions required in the rule of faith be not wanting then the doctrine and teaching of the true Church is the rule that all men ought to follow But our Sauiour Christ hath so 1. promised 2. charged 3. warranted 4. commaunded 5. threatned and 6. the other conditions required are not wanting Therefore the doctrine and teaching of the true Church is the rule that all men ought to follow I haue propounded this Syllogisme as your selfe haue set it downe saue onely that I haue endeuored to make it somewhat shorter keeping your sense whole and full Now for the proposition I grant the consequence vpon all those conditions ioyntly considered to be sound and good Howsoeuer some of them might well haue bene omitted for example 1 If our Sauiour haue promised his presence and assistance of his spirit of purpose to teach a certaine companie of men all truth then the doctrine of the Church is the rule of faith This consequence is but weake for Christ may affoord such presence and assistance to such a purpose and yet the effect not ensue by reason that those men faile in some duties required on their part Do not you affirme in this Treatise that God hath appointed meanes of saluation for all men with a true will to haue them saued and yet verie many yea the greatest part are not saued 2 If he haue giuen them charge and commission to preach to euerie creature then their preaching is the rule of faith Their commission is not simply to teach but to teach those things that our Sauiour himselfe commaunded and therefore their doctrine can be no farther the rule of faith then they preach according to their commission If I or an Angell from heauen saith the Apostle preach vnto you otherwise then that you haue receiued let him be accursed The same may be obiected against the third and the fifth points It doth not follow that their doctrine is the rule of faith because all men haue warrant to heare them safely or because they are threatned who will not heare and beleeue them For first they may be free from danger of erring and yet not know all points of faith which is made by you one condition of the rule Secondly vnlesse you enlarge the warrant as farre as the commaundement in the fourth point which is in a manner to confound them so that they may safely heare them in all things your consequence will still be naught Thirdly they may heare them safely though the other may erre if they haue means affoorded to examine that they deliuer skill and care to vse those meanes Fourthly the threatning for not beleeuing is to be restrained to their teaching as they ought Are not they threatned by our Sauiour who beleeue not any Minister lawfully authorised and preaching the truth Yet doth it not follow hereupon that they cannot erre or that their preaching is simply the rule of faith But these feeble consequences might all haue bene omitted by you and your matter as fully prooued if you had set downe none but the fourth and sixth points thus If God haue commaunded all men to doe in all things as the Church teacheth and the other conditions required in the rule be not wanting then their preaching is the rule that all men ought to follow This consequence is true and sufficient for your purpose the other serue for number to make a shew rather then for substance of weight But of your Maior this may be sufficient especially since I acknowledge the truth thereof A. D. §. 3. But so it is that Christ our Sauiour hath in holy Scripture promised giuen commission warranted commaunded and threatned in manner aforesaid Therefore we cannot doubt but that there is a certaine company the which is called the true Church of Christ which both is in all points of faith infallibly taught by the holy Spirit and is likewise to teach all sorts of men in all points of faith what is the infallible truth and therefore the teaching of this companie may well be assigned and proposed to all men as an vndoubted sufficient rule of faith A. W. I denie your Minor first in generall because our Sauiour did not so promise charge warrant commaund threaten in regard of any companie of men as if there had bene some ioynt teaching appointed by him but in respect of his Apostles and Ministers seuerally who in their proportion haue as much authoritie for necessitie of being beleeued seuerally one by one as iointly all together though such a ioynt consent is the more to be reuerenced and respected Secondly I denie it also in the fourth point which is the strength of it There neuer was since the Apostles any man or any companie of men according to whose saying we were commaunded to doe in all things Lastly I say the conditions required in the rule of faith are wanting in the teaching you vnderstand This conclusion of yours giueth me occasion to speake somewhat at large of the Church with the name whereof applied to your Pope alone or Pope and Cleargie you daily seduce many vnsetled and ignorant people The word Church in our English tongue seemeth first of all to haue bene applied to the Temple or place of Gods seruice as if it were called Kyrke of the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you would say the Lords house But the Hebrew Greek words which must be the Iudges in this matter signifie a Companie Congregation or Assemblie The Hebrew words are two the Greeke as many the Latin besides the two Greeke made Latin are diuers Populi people Coetus
haue noted did not accuse the Catholicks of any error against the foundation whereby they might prooue they had ceased to be of the Church but onely vrged verie absurdly a dreame of their owne that all but they of Donatus part were fallen away What is this to the question betwixt you and vs We shew euidence of Scripture to prooue that there was to be a defection that Antichrist the head of that defection is to be the chiefe gouernour of the Ecclesiasticall state that his seat is to be at Rome yea we manifestly conuince your Apostaticall Church of many and grosse heresies some of them directly ouerthrowing the foundation of our Sauiour Christs mediatorship for the whole punishment of all our sinnes and the loue of God in choosing vs to euerlasting life without respect of any thing on our part wherby we not he make difference of our selues from other that is we prooue that the doctrine of your Church is vtterly false in the maine points of predestination iustification without the true beleefe whereof there can hardly be any true religion because the greatest part of Gods glory which is the end of all religion is ouerthrowne or hidden by such errors as your Church maintaines in these matters of iustification and predestination But to the matter This generall ground of Austins disputation we acknowledge to be good and sound as for that which he addeth and you especially vrge I answer with Austins good leaue that the place he brings prooues not a continuall increase of the Church from time to time but onely that when the Apostle writ there had bene a good growth of the seed of the Gospell as among the Colossians so in the whole world And whereas he doth assay to prooue that there must be an increase of the Gospell till the end of the world because our Sauiour in the Parable saith that the good seed must grow till that time we craue leaue to dissent from him till it be prooued that the Parable is so to be vnderstood and that the Apostle so intended that speech of his For Parables Austin himselfe hath taught vs in this verie question against the Donatists that no man may apply any thing out of a Parable to prooue his purpose by vnlesse he can shew euident and cleare reason for his interpretation But this euidence seemes to be wanting in this exposition of the Parable For the scope of the Parable is not to prooue that the Church shall continually increase till the end of the world but to shew that in the outward congregations good and bad shall be alwaies mingled together and so doth Austin himselfe euery where expound the place And surely if from hence we may prooue such a continuall growth of the Church may we not from the same place conclude the like of heresies Let them both grow together vntill the haruest saith the text But what should I make many words about this Parable Our Sauiour himselfe expounds it afterward and makes no such collection of the Churches increase til the worlds end And Ierome willeth vs not to be ouer hastie to gesse at the meaning of the Parable because the expositiō of it in the text is deferred from the 13. verse to the 37. but to wait til our Sauiour giue vs the interpretatiō who hath giuen vs to vnderstand that the good seed are the children of the kingdome not as in the Apostle the Gospel how then are they all one Beside the Parable speaketh not of the outward Church that is of all professors all which are mēbers of your Church if they hold of your Pope but of the true Church indeed the elect of God called the children of the kingdome all the good seed saith our Sauiour are iust men and shall shine as the Sunne in the kingdome of their Father So shall not all your Church do many of your number by your owne confession being wicked and reprobate neither iust nor to haue any place in heauen But the decay of your owne Popish Church me thinketh should sufficiently refute this conceit The other place alledged to prooue that the propagation of the Gospell must increase till the end of the world is neither rightly vnderstood nor of any force to the matter in question To speake of the latter point in a word Let vs grant that by the end the end of the world is signified What of that Our Sauiour doth not say that the Church shall grow greater and greater till the end of the world but that the Gospell shall be preached in all places before the world haue an end so may it be though after it is once preached for some few yeares it be out of the world for many yeares together and afterward be againe begun and this may befall it oftentimes for all that prophecie Let vs further yeeld that it shall alwaies continue in the world as doubtlesse it shall yet is there not hereupon any such necessitie of this growth to be inferred For it may be preached in all places and yet lose more in one countrie then it getteth in three passing along with a small retinew from one land to another Now for the other point it is apparent that our Sauiour at the least in that former part of the Chapter prophecieth of the destruction of Ierusalem before which saith he the Gospell shall be preached through the whole world The end saith Chrysostome namely the end of Ierusalem And he prooueth that the Gospell was so preached by two places of Scripture the one whereof is that out of the Epistle to the Colossians Of the same opinion is Theophylact and your ordinarie Glosse and Lyra who vndertaketh to shew that the Gospell had bene preached in the three knowne parts of the world Africa Asia and Europe before Ierusalem was destroyed by Titus and Vespasian Iansenius Bishop of Gaunt disputeth the point and concludeth for all Austins authoritie and reasons that it seemeth we are rather to hold with Chrysostome that our Sauiour speaketh of the end of Ierusalem Which saith he is euidently gathered from this that after our Lord had said Then commeth the end he presently addeth when therefore you shall see the abhomination of desolation c. For the bringing in of this signifieth that he obserueth the order of things to come and teacheth what was to be done when the end whereof he spake should come All this part of your discourse to prooue that heresies are not Catholicke either from time or place might verie well haue bene spared For who ever imagined that error was before truth when as it is nothing else but a straying from the truth Yet haue some heresies bene of long continuance as Arianisme for a great while which was also so vniuersall for a time that as Ierome saith the world wondred at it selfe that it was become an Arian But what should I waste time and labour
infallible and vniuersall rule accommodate to the capacitie of euerie one the which rule cannot be any other but the doctrine and teaching of the true Church the which Church is alwaies to continue visible vntill the worlds end and is to be knowne by these foure markes Vna Sancta Catholica Apostolica One Holy Catholicke Apostolicke the which markes agree onely to the Romane Church that is to say to that companie which doth communicate and agree in profession of faith with the Church of Rome whereupon followeth that this Church or companie is the onely true Church of which euerie one must learne that faith which is necessarie to saluation Considering I say all this I would demaund of the Protestants how they can perswade themselues to haue that faith which is necessarie to saluation sith they will not admit the authoritie and doctrine of the Church of which onely they ought to learne this faith Or how they can as some of them do challenge to themselues the title of the true Church sith their companie hath neuer one of the foure markes which by common consent of all must nedes be acknowledged for the true markes of the Church How can their congregation be the true Church which neither is One because it hath no meanes to keepe vnitie nor Holy because neither was there euer any man of it which by miracle or any other euident testimony can be prooued to haue bene truly holy neither is their doctrine such as those that most purely obserue it do without faile thereby become holy nor Catholicke because it teacheth not all truths that haue bene held by the vniuersall Church in former times but denieth many of them neither is it spred ouer all the Christian world but being diuided into diuers sectes euerie particular sect is contained in some corner of the world Neither hath it bene in all times euer since Christ but sprong vp of late the first founder being Martin Luther an Apostata a man after his Apostasie from his professed religious order knowne both by his writings words deeds and manner of death to haue bene a notable ill liuer Nor Apostolicke because the preachers thereof cannot deriue their Pedegree lineally without interruption from any Apostle but are forced to beginne their line if they will haue any from Luther Caluin or some latter How can they then brag that they haue the true holy Catholicke and Apostolicke faith sith this is not found in any companie that differeth in doctrine from the onely true holy Catholicke and Apostolicke Church For if it be true which Saint Austin saith that in ventre Ecclesiae veritas manet the truth remaineth in the bellie of the Church it is impossible that those who are disioyned by difference of beleefe from that companie which is knowne to be the true Church should haue the true faith For true faith as before hath bene prooued is but one wherefore he that differeth in beleefe from them which haue the true faith either he must haue a false faith or no faith at all Againe one cannot haue true faith vnlesse he first heare it according to the ordinarie rule of Saint Paule saying Fides ex auditu faith commeth of hearing but how can one heare true doctrine of faith sine praedicante without one to preach truly vnto him And how should one preach truly at least in all points nisi mittatur vnlesse he be sent and consequently assisted by the spirit of God Now how should we know that Luther or Caluin or any other that will leap out of the Church leaue that company wherin is vndoubted succession and by succession lawfull mission or sending from God how should we I say know that these men teaching a new and contrarie doctrine were indeed sent of God Nay certainly we may be most sure that they were not sent of God For sith Almightie God hath by his Sonne planted a Church vpon earth which Church he would haue alwaies continue vntill the worlds end and hath placed in it a visible succession of lawfull ordinarie Pastours whom he will with the assistance of himselfe and his holy Spirit so guide that they shall neuer vniuersally faile to teach the true faith and to preserue the people from errours we are not now to expect any to be sent from God to instruct the people but such onely as come in this ordinarie manner by lawfull succession order and calling according as S. Paule saith Nec quisquam sumit sibi honorem sed qui vocatur à Deo tanquam Aaron Neither doth any man take to himselfe the honour but he that is called of God as Aaron was to wit visibly and with peculiar consecration as we reade in Leuiticus cap. 8. To which accordeth that which we reade 2. Paralip 26. where Azarias said to king Ozias Non est tui officij Ozia vt adoleas incensum Domino sed Sacerdotum hoc est filiorum Aaron qui consecrati sunt ad huiusmodi ministerium egredere de sanctuario c. It is not thy office O Ozias to offer incense to our Lord but it is the office of Priests to wit of the sonnes of Aaron who are consecrated to this function or ministerie go out of the Sanctuarie Which bidding when Ozias contemned and would not obey he was presently stricken with a leprosie and then being terrified feeling the punishment inflicted by our Lord he hastened away as in the same place is declared By which places we may learne that it doth not belong to any one to do priestly functions as to offer incense or sacrifice to God or take vpon them the authoritie to preach and instruct the people but onely to Priests called visibly and consecrated for this peculiar purpose as Aaron and his children were For though the priesthood of the Pastors of the new law be not Aaronicall yet it agreeth with the Priesthood of Aaron according to S. Paul his saying in the foresaid place in this that those that come to it must not take the honor of themselues but must be called vnto it of God as Aaron was to wit visibly and by peculiar consecration In which ordinarie maner whosoeuer cometh he may be truly called Pastor ouium a Pastor of Christs flocke because intrat per ostium he entereth in by the doore to wit by Christ himselfe who first visibly called consecrated and sent immediately the Apostles and the Apostles by authoritie receiued from him did visiblie by imposition of hands call consecrate and send others and those in like manner others from time to time without interruption vntill these present men who now are Priests of the Catholicke Romane Church These therefore enter in by Christ who is the doore and therefore these be true Pastours and whosoeuer entereth not thus in at the doore but commeth in another way our Sauiour telleth vs how we should account of him when he saith Qui non intrat per ostium in ouile ouium
of some men for the worke of the ministerie by prayer and laying on of hands Your example of Oziah is little to the purpose For it had not bene lawfull for him to offer incense though he had bene consecrated with all the ceremonies that belong to the office of the priesthood because the office of offring incense was appropriated by God to the house of Aaron as Azariah signifieth in his speech to Vzziah This appointment of God was their calling the outward ceremonies were but to shadow forth the excellencie of our Sauiour Christs priesthood Neither doth the Apostle prooue the lawfulnesse of Christs priesthood by his consecration answerable to Aarons as your alledging of the place intends but onely by the Lords authorizing of him to that office Christ tooke not to himselfe the honour to be made the high Priest saith the Apostle but he that said vnto him Thou art my sonne this day begat I thee gaue it him As he also in an other place speaketh Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech what word is there here of our Sauiours consecration You proceed to heape error vpon error to the preiudice of Gods truth and destruction of his people If euery man be to be held for a true Pastor and as such a one to be beleeued if he haue an orderly admission and allowance to teach had not Arius Nestorius Eutyches Macedonius and many other heretickes lawfull ordination according to the custome of the Churches in those times Yea were not Luther Bucer Martyr authorized by your Church and Caluin too as you say afterward when you accuse Luther and him for leauing their former profession Come no hirelings in by the doore if lawfull outward admission be the doore How many that enter lawfully become wolues afterward I know this saith Saint Paul to the Ephesians that after my departure grieuous wolues shall enter in among you not sparing the flocke Moreouer of your owne selues shall men arise speaking peruerse things Who can doubt but some of these might be euen of the number of them who were lawfully admitted by imposition of hands and prayer the onely meanes of consecration in those times before your shauing and greasing was heard of in the Church But you ignorantly or wilfully abuse that place of the Euangelist by applying it to the ordinary ministerie of the Gospell whereas it belongeth to the office of the Messiah and the calling that hee had from God to bee the great shepheard of our soules All that came before him professing themselues to be the Messiah as Iudas and Theudas did were theeues and robbers entring not in by the doore that is by commission from God but coming in another way by their counterfetting of a pattent from God Neither was the preseruation of the people but their owne aduancement the marke they shot at But the true shepheard Iesus Christ came to giue his life for his sheepe that they might be saued This is the true sense of that worthy sermon which if we will apply to ministers they must be held for true Pastors which being authorized thereunto do preach Christ Iesus truly without mingling any such doctrines as may by any meanes draw vs from the acknowledging or resting vpon him for saluation He that so teacheth and is authorized thereunto commeth in by Christ the doore especially if he haue withall a true desire to feed the flock committed to him in the sinceritie of his heart But if you stand onely vpon outward calling the Priests and Leuits wanted it not who yet were theeues because they endeuored to steale away the hearts of the sheepe from Christ the true shepheard That which followeth of the necessitie of miracles or extraordinarie sanctitie concernes not vs who pleade not any extraordinarie sending Luther was appointed by your Church to preach the Gospel That duty according to his calling he faithfully performed neuer requiring to be credited because he was extraordinarily sent by God but because he taught that which God had left in the Scriptures for the instruction and edification of his Church in all ages till the end of the world What neede was there now of miracles or any other extraordinarie course The places you bring wee answered before The vniuersall consent of Pastors and Doctors in that they teach hath bene found to be but a crooked rule to measure truth by though we are perswaded that the world was neuer without some that held and taught so much of the truth as is absolutely necessary to saluation But that is vniuersally or generally taught which is the common doctrine of ordinary teachers howsoeuer some one or two here and there may be of a contrarie opinion How farre the Scribes and Pharisies were to be heard it appeared before where this place was alledged and answered Surely he that charged his Disciples to take heede of the leauen of the Pharisies and called them fooles and blinde would neuer commaund them to take their doctrine for the rule of truth Neither could Saint Paule meane that euerie man should be accursed who taught at any time otherwise then men commonly beleeued he speaketh not a word of any common consent in teaching and he knew that there was to be a generall Apostacy but his meaning was that they should hold him for accursed that deliuered any other doctrine of saluation how generally so euer it were taught then that which he himselfe had preached to thē But of this also before I hope you are not so mad as to imagine that any man will beleeue that Saint Austin so many hundred yeares ago prophesied that your Pastors and Doctors should from time to time teach nothing else generally but that which had in his daies descended from hand to hand from Christ and his Apostles Or do you thinke it would prooue a good reason to say Austin affirmeth that Ambrose and other learned men who liued in the first 400. yeares held that which they found in the Church and taught that which they had learned Therefore it cannot be that since his time other men haue preached or written otherwise But be like this place was alledged by you rather for ornament and shew then for proofe or vse and so let it passe Though there were no other reason to make vs mislike your Church yet this were cause enough of doubt that the foundation whereon you build it in this Treatise and the like is so weake and vncertaine We must beleeue you because you are the Church Who saith so Your selues But you will prooue it by Scripture How shall I know that you bring to be Scripture The Church telleth you so Shall I laugh at you or pitie you You are the Church because the Scripture saith so The Scripture is Scripture to vs because you say so Were the Galathians so senslesse as they that beleeue such absurd fooleries Or is it possible that any