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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	person_n	substance_n	trinity_n	2,648	5	10.3730	5	false

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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

more easily perswade men also vnto euill as the Apostle saith It wrought death vnto me by that which was good Either therefore as wee said before to the end that hee might deceiue he doth in some places of his writings glory that he doth beleeue on Christ one person of Christ or else surely hee saith that two persons now after the Virgins deliuerāce did so meete and knit in one Christ that yet he holds there were two Christs at the time of her conceptiō or deliuering a little afterwards And whereas intruth Christ was at the first borne an ordinary and meere man and not yet partaker of the vnity of the person of God the Word afterwards the person of the Word assuming him descended into him And although now being assumed he do remain in the glory of God yet it seemeth to him that for some space there was no difference betwixt him other mē CHAP. 18. THese things therefore Nestorius Apollinaris Photinus like madde dogs doe barke against the Catholicke faith Photinus by not confessing the Trinity Appollinaris in saying that the nature of the Word is conuertible not acknowledging two substances in Christ and by denying either the whole soule of Christ or at the least the minde reason in the soule and by affirming that the Word of God was in stead thereof Nestorius by auouching either that there are alwaies two Christs or that there were two some while But the Catholike Church iudging rightly both of God and of our Sauiour blasphemeth neither against the mystery of the Trinity nor against the Incarnation of Christ For it worshippeth both one Diuinity in a perfect Trinity and the equality of the Trinity in one and the same Maiesty and acknowledgeth one Iesus Christ not two and that same is both God and Man It beleeueth indeed that there is one person In him but two substances it beleeueth there are two substances but one person two substances because the Word of God is not changeable that it should be turned into flesh and one person least by professing two Sons it may seeme to worship a Quaternity or Foure not a Trinity or Three CHAP. 19. BVt it is worth our labour to lay open this point with diligence more distinctly and more plainly In God there is one substance but three persons In Christ there be two substances but one person In the Trinity there is distinction of persons but no diuersity of nature In our Sauiour there is diuersity of nature but no difference of person How is there in the Trinity distinctiō of persons but no difference of nature Namely because there is one person of the Father another of the Sonne and another of the holy Ghost but yet the nature of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost is not diuers but one the same How is there in our Sauiour differēce of natures but not of person Surely because there is one substance of the Diuinity another of the Humanity but yet the God-head and Manhead are not two persons but one and the same Christ one the same Sonne of God and one and the same person of one and the same Christ and Sonne of God As in a man the Flesh is one nature and the Soule another but the soule and the flesh is one and the same man In Peter Paul the soule is one nature and the flesh another but yet the flesh and soule are not two Peters neither is the soule one Paul and the flesh another Paul but one and the same Peter and one and the same Paul subsisting of the double and diuers nature of the soule and of the body So then in one and the same Christ there are two substances but one is diuine the other is humane one of the Father God the other of the Mother the Virgin one coëternall and equall to the Father the other consubstantiall to the Mother yet one and the same Christ in both the substance There is not therefore one Christ God and another Man not one vncreated and another created not one that cannot suffer and another that can suffer not one equal to the Father another lesser then the Father another of the mother But one and the same Christ is God and Man the same is vncreated and created the same could not bee changed and could not suffer the same was changed and did suffer the same is equall to the Father inferiour the same was begotten of the Father before time the same is borne of his Mother in time perfect God and perfect Man in God is the soueraigne Diuinity in Man the whole Humanity I say the whole Humanity which comprehendeth both the Soule and the Flesh yea true flesh our flesh and the mothers flesh a soule also indued with vnderstanding furnished with iudgement reason There is therefore in Christ the Word a Soule and Flesh but all this is one Christ one Sonne of God and one Sauiour and Redeemer of vs. And one not by I wot not what corruptible confusion of the God-head and Man-head but by a certaine entire and singular vnity of person For that coniunction doth not conuert and change the one into the other which is an errour proper to the Arrians but hath so conioyned both the natures in one that the singularity or vnity of one the same persō abiding alwaies in Christ the property of either nature remaineth also for euer so that verily the body doth neuer at any time begin to be God nor cease at any time to bee a body which is also made manifest by an example of an humane case For neither for the present onely but for the future also euery man shall consist of body and soule yet neither shall the body euer bee changed into the soule or the soule into the body but euery man being to continue euer the difference of both the substances shall continue for euer in euery man euen so in Christ also the property of both the substances is to bee reteined of them both for euer but yet the vnity of the person being preserued safe CHAP. 20. BVt whereas wee doe often name this word Person and say that God in person was made man wee must greatly feare that we do not seeme to say this That God the word did onely by the resemblance of action take vpon him those things that appertaine to vs and that hee wrought whatsoeuer belonged to the cōuersation of a man as it were in shew and not as a true Man as is wont to be done on the stages where one man doth suddenly represent many persons of the which himselfe is none For as often as there is made a resemblance of another mans action the duties and deedes of others are so done as that yet these men that act them are not the very same men whom they do act or counterfeit For that we may for illustration

sake vse the ensamples of things secular and which are vsed of the Manichees whenas a Tragicall Player doth counterfeit a Priest or a King hee is neither a Priest nor a King for the action ceasing those things also cease together which that person had represented But from vs farre bee this cursed wicked mockery Let this madnesse be the Manichees who being phantasticall Preachers affirme that the Sonne of God who is God was not a man truely and substancially but that hee resembled man by a certaine imaginary act and conuersation But the Catholicke faith doth so say that the Word of God was made Man that hee tooke vpon him our nature and properties not deceitfully and in shew but truly and liuely and that he did not resemble those things which belong to the nature of man as not his owne but that hee did sustaine them rather as being his owne and that hee was altogether also the very thing which hee did resemble Euen as we our selues also in that we speake vnderstand liue and subsist wee doe not represent men but wee are men For neither Peter and Iohn that we may especially speake of them were men by imitating but by subsisting In like maner Paul did not counterfeit an Apostle or resemble Paul but hee was an Apostle and Paul indeede Euen so also God the Word by assuming and hauing the flesh and by speaking doing and suffering by the flesh yet without any corruption of his nature vouchsafed verily to performe this that hee might not resemble or counterfeit a perfect man but exhibite that hee might not seeme or be thought to bee a true man but that hee might subsist and bee one indeede Therefore as the soule vnited to the flesh but yet not turned into flesh doth not resemble a man but is a man is a man not in shew but in substance so also the Word God by vniting himselfe vnto man without any cōuersion of himselfe was made man not by cōfusion not by imitation but by subsisting Let vs therefore vtterly reiect all conceipt of that person which is vsurped by counterfeiting resembling where alwaies one thing is and another thing is counterfeited where hee that doth act or represent is neuer he whom he doth act For farre bee it from vs to thinke that God the Word hath taken vpon him the person of man in this deceiptfull manner but rather so as that his substance continuing vnchangeable and by taking vpon him the nature of a perfect man he might himselfe be flesh a man the person of a man not counterfeit but true not by resemblance but in substance To conclude not such a one as ceaseth with the action or representatiō but which alway abideth in the substance This vnity therefore of person in Christ was not made and perfected after the Virgin had brought him forth but in the very wombe of the Uirgin CHAP. 21. FOr we must be very wary that we doe confesse that Christ not onely is one but also that he was alwayes one because it is intolerable blasphemy though thou shouldest grant him to be one person now yet to auouch that he was sometime not one but two to wit one after the time of his Baptisme but two at the time of his Birth Which exceeding great sacriledge surely we shall not be able otherwise to auoid but by confessing that man was vnited to God in the vnity of person not at his ascension or resurrection or Baptisme but euen now in his mother euen in the wombe yea euen in the very conception of the Virgin by reason of which vnity of person those things that are proper vnto God are indifferently and in common giuen to him being man and those things that are proper to the flesh are ascribed vnto God For thence it is that the holy Scriptures say both that the Sonne of Man came downe from heauen and that the Lord of glory was crucified vpon earth Thence also it is that because the flesh of the Lord was made because the flesh of the Lord was created the very word of God is said to be made the wisedome of God is sayd to be filled the Science or knowledge of God is sayd to be created euen as in respect of fore-knowledge his hands his feet are sayd to be peirced In regard I say of this vnity of person that also hath by reason of the like mysterie proceeded that because the Flesh of the word was borne of his Uirgin-mother that therefore God the word himselfe should be most catholickly beleeued to be borne of the Virgin and most wickedly denied Which things seeing they thus are God forbid that any man should go about to depriue holy Mary of the priuiledges of diuine fauour as a speciall glory For she is through a certaine singular benefit of our Lord and God and her owne Sonne to be most truly and most happily confessed the Mother of God But she is not so the mother of God as a certaine wicked heresie surmiseth which affirmeth that she is to be sayd to be the mother of God in name onely as who forsooth did bring forth that man which was afterwards made God as we call one the mother of a Priest or the mother of a Bishop not because she did bring forth one that was at his very birth a Priest or Bishop but for that she brought one forth that was afterwards made a Priest or Bishop Holy Mary is not I say so to be called the mother of God but therefore rather because as hath beene sayd before that holy mystery was accomplished euen in her sacred wombe since by reason of a certaine singular and indiuiduall vnitie of person as the Word in the flesh is flesh so man in God is God CHAP. 22. BVt now according to those things which haue beene briefly sayd before concerning the foresayd heresies and the Catholicke faith let vs for the refreshing of memory make a briefer and shorter rehearsall to the end verily both that being repeated they might be better vnderstood and that being pressed they might more surely be remembred Accursed therefore be Photinus for not acknowledging three distinct persons for affirming Christ to bee no more then a bare man Accursed be Apollinaris that affirmeth the corruption of the Diuinitie changed in Christ and denieth the property of a perfect manhead Accursed be Nestorius which denieth that God was borne of the Virgin and affirmeth there are two Christs reiecting the faith of the Trinitie bringeth in amongst vs a quaternity But blessed be the Catholicke Church which worshippeth one God in a perfect Trinity and the equality also of the Trinity in one Diuinitie so as that neither the singularitie of the substance confoundeth the propertie of the persons nor the distinction of the Trinitie separate the vnitie of the Deity Blessed I say be the Church which beleeueth that there are two true and perfect substances in Christ but yet one person of Christ so

that neither the distinction of the natures diuideth the vnitie of the person nor the vnitie of the person confounds the difference of the substances Blessed I say be the Church which that it might acknowledge that Christ both is was euer one confesseth that man was vnited to God not after his birth but now euen in the mothers wombe Blessed I say be the Church which vnderstandeth that God was made man not by the conuersion of nature but in regard of person person I say not counterfeit and transient but substantiall and permanent I say blessed bee the Church which affirmeth that this vnity of person is so effectuall as that by reason thereof the things of God are by a wonderfull and vnspeakable mysterie ascribed vnto man and the things of man ascribed vnto God For because of that vnitie it doth not deny that man descended from heauen in respect of the God-head and hath belieued that God was made vpon earth that he suffered and was crucified in regard of the Manhead To conclude by reason of that vnity she doth acknowledge Man to be the Sonne of God and God to be the Sonne of the Virgin Holy therefore and venerable blessed and inuiolable and to that celestiall praising performed of the Angels altogether comparable be this confession which glorifies God with a threefold sanctification For therefore it doth especially tel and glory of the vnitie of Christ least the mysterie of the Trinity should exceed Be these things spoken by way of digressing else where if God shall please they are more largely to be treated of and vnfolded Let vs now returne vnto our purpose CHAP. 23. VVE sayd therefore before that in the Church of God the Teachers error was the peoples temptation and that the tentation was so much the greater by how the the learneder he was that did erre Which we taught first by the authority of Scripture and then by Ecclesiasticall examples to wit by reckoning vp them that though they were for a time accounted sound in the faith yet at the last did either fall into the sect of some other or else deuised an heresie of their owne A matter doubtlesse of great moment both commodious to learne and necessary to be thought of and remembred the which wee ought diligently to illustrate and inculcate with the multitude of ensamples that all Catholikes for the most part may know That they ought with the Church to receiue teachers and not that they should with teachers forsake the faith that the Church embraceth But in my conceit though we might recken vp a number in this kind of tempting yet was there almost none that was so great a temptation as was Origen in whome there were many things so excellent so singular and so admirable that any man might easily iudge at first that all his assertions were to be belieued For if the life doth win authority his industry his chastity patience and sufferance was not small if either kindred or learning Who more noble then he who at the first was borne in that family which was made illustrious by Martyrdome And afterwards hauing for Christ lost not his father onely but all his substance also he did profit so much within the straites of holy pouerty he did often as they say susteine afflictions for confessing the Lord. Neither indeed were these things onely in him all which might afterwards proue a tentation but hee had also such a notable wit so profound so acute and so fine that he did much and farre surpasse almost all and so great was the skill of this notable man in all knowledge and learning as that there were but few things in diuine philosophy of humane it may be almost none which hee did not thorowly vnderstand Who when he had atteined to the learning of the Greekes he gaue himselfe also to the study of the Hebrew But why should I speake of eloquence whose speech was so pleasant so delectable and so sweete that not words me thinkes so much as hony seemed to flow out of his mouth What incredible things did he bolt out and cleer by the force of disputation What things seeming hard to be done did not he make that they should seeme most easie But he woue his assertions it may be onely with the knots of arguments Yea doubtlesse there was neuer any Teacher which vsed more examples or proofes of holy writ But he wrote I beleeue but little No man writ more that I thinke all his works cannot onely not be read ouer but indeede not so much as found And who also that he might not want any helpe to knowledge was furnished with ripenesse of age But perhaps he was not very happy in Disciples Who euer more happy For out of his bosome sprang innumerable Teachers an infinity of Priests Confessors and Martyers And now what man is able to conceiue in what admiration in what renowne and grace he was in with all men What man a little more deuout then ordinary did not with speed resort vnto him from the farthest quarters of the world What Christian did not reuerence him almost as a Prophet what Philosopher honor'd him not as a Maister And how reuerend he was accounted not onely among priuate men but euen of the chiefest in the Empire the Stories doe declare which say that he was sent for by the mother of Alexander the Emperour intruth because of heauenly wisedome which also he did much affect loue But the epistles also of the same mā beare witnes which he wrot by the authority of Christian Teacher to Emperour Philip who was the first Christian of all the Romane Princes Concerning whose incredible knowledge if any man beleeue not a Christian testimony we being the relators let him at the lest receiue a Pagan confession the Philosophers being the witnesses For that wicked Porphicie saith that being moued with his fame he went being in a manner but a boy to Alexandria and that he sawe him there being now an olde man but indeede so notably qualified as one that had attained to the height of all learning The day would sooner faile me then I shall be able to touch euen the smallest part of those excellent things which were in that man which notwithstanding did not only perteine to the glory of religion but also to the greatnesse of temptation For what man among a thousand would easily cast off from him a man of such an excellent wit so great a scholler and of so great account and not rather vse that sentēce That he had rather erre with Origen then iudge truly with other men But what should I make many words It so fell out that not some humane but as the euent declared a too dangerous temptation made by so great a person so great a Teacher so great a Prophet did draw very many frō the soundnesse of the Faith Wherefore this Origen so great and so

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

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