seene him and talked with him they professed that they beleeved not for her saying any longer for themselues had heard him speake and did know that hee was the Saviour of the world indeed So men at the first beginne to beleeue moued so to doe by the authority of the Church but rest not in it but in the infallible assurance of diuine trueth Vpon the mistaking of this saying of S. Augustine and an erroneous conceit that our faith stayeth wholly vpon the authority and testimony of the Church hath growne that opinion that the authority of the Church is greater than the authority of the Scriptures CHAP. 10. Of the Papistes preferring the Churches authority before the Scripture TOuching which odious comparison I find some shew of difference amongst the Papistes but none indeede Some affirme that the authorities of the Church and of the Scripture being in divers kindes may in diverse sorts and respects either of them be sayd to be greater then the other to wit the one in nature of an euidence the other of a Iudge and that therefore the comparing of them in authority is vnfit and superfluous Others say that the Church is greater then Scriptures The Rhemists seeme to be of the first sort seeking to conceale that which indeede they thinke because they would not incurre the dislike and ill opinion of men naturally abhorring from so odious a comparison Yet in the same place they doe make the comparison and preferre the Church before the Scriptures 1. In respect of antiquity in that it was before them 2. In excellencie of nature in that the Church is the spouse of Christ the Temple of God the proper subject of God and his graces for which the Scriptures were and not the Church for the Scriptures 3. In power of judging of doubts and controversies the Church hauing judiciall power the Scripture not being capable of it 4. In euidence the definition of the Church being more cleare and evident then those of the Scriptures Stapleton sayth the comparison may be made and the Church preferred before the Scriptures foure wayes 1. So as if the Church might define contrary to the Scriptures as shee may contrary to the writings of particular men how great soeuer In this sense they of the Church of Rome make not the comparison neither doe we charge them with any such thing though Stapleton be pleased to say so of vs. 2. So as the Church may define though not contrary to yet beside the Scripture or written Word of God This comparison is not made properly touching the preheminence of one aboue another in authority but the extent of one beyond the other as Stapleton rightly noteth In this sense the Romanists make the Church greater in authority than the Scriptures that is the extent of the Churches authority larger than of the Scriptures to bring in their traditions but this wee deny and will in due place improue their errour herein Thirdly in the obedience they both challenge of vs where they all say that we are bound with as great affection of piety to obey and submit our selues vnto the determinations of the Church as of the Scriptures both being infallible of diuine and heauenly authority against which no man may resist and that it is a matter of faith so to thinke Yea some of them as Stapleton in the same place are not ashamed to say that wee are bound with greater certaintie of faith to subscribe vnto the determinations of the Church than of the Scriptures and that it is the authority of the Church that maketh vs accept embrace and beleeue the Scriptures Fourthly in the nature of the things themselues in which respect they preferre the Church before the Scriptures as being in it selfe more excellent then the Scriptures as the subject by which the spirit worketh is more excellent then the thing hee worketh by it CHAP. 11. Of the refutation of their errour who preferre the authority of the Church before the Scripture THat wee may the better discerne what is to bee resolued touching these two latter comparisons betweene the Church and the Scriptures wee must remember that which I haue before noted touching them both For first the name of the Church sometimes comprehendeth onely the beleeuers that now presently are liuing in the world Sometimes not onely these but all them also that haue beene since the Apostles times Sometimes all that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh If the comparison bee made betweene the Church consisting onely of the faithfull that now are and the Scripture wee absolutely deny the equality of their authority and say it is impiety to thinke that both may challenge an equall degree of obedience and faith to bee yeelded to them for it cannot bee proued that the Church thus taken is free from errour nay themselues with one consent confesse that generall Councels representing this Church may erre though not in matters of substance which they purposely meete to determine yet in other passages and in the reasons and motiues leading to such determinations and consequently the whole Church may erre in the same things the one in their opinion being no more infallible than the other Yea some of them feare not to pronounce that Popes and generall Councells may erre damnably and that the Church itselfe may erre in matters not fundamentall though without pertinacy as Picus in his theoremes and Waldensis who freeth only the vniuersall Church consisting of the faithfull that are and haue beene from errour and not the present Church as I shewed before We are so farre then from preferring the Church thus taken as Stapleton in the place aboue mentioned professeth he taketh it in authority before the Scripture that we thinke it impiety to imagine it to be equall That the authority of the Church maketh vs to beleeue with an humane and acquisite faith we deny not but that it maketh vs to beleeue with a diuine faith we deny as before If the comparison be made between the Church consisting of all the faithfull that haue bin since besides the Apostles writers of the holy Scriptures though we think the Church thus taken to be free from any error yet dare we not make it equall to the Scripture For that the Scripture is infallibly true as inspired immediatly frō the spirit of truth securing the writers of it from errour The Church not in respect of the condition of the men of whom it consisteth or the manner of the guiding of the spirit each particular man being subject vnto errour but in respect of the generality and vniversality of it in euery part whereof in every time no errour could possibly be found And for that whatsoeuer is vniuersally deliuered by it is thereby prooued to be from the Apostles of whose faith wee are secure Thus then the whole Church thus taken is subiect to the Scripture in all her parts and hath her infallibility from it and therefore in her
is in himselfe and maketh vs already to beginne to tast the sweetnesse of so great and happy an vnion is not only true but Diuine and Heauenly such as nature could not teach vs but is to be learned onely of God himselfe It being presupposed in the generalily that the doctrine of the Christian faith is of God and containeth nothing but heauenly truth in the next place we are to inquire by what rule wee are to iudge of particular things contained within the compasse of it This rule is first the summary comprehension of such principall articles of this diuine knowledge as are the principles whence all other things are concluded and inferred These are contained in the creed of the Apostles Secondly all such things as every Christian is bound expressely to beleeue by the light direction whereof he iudgeth of other things which are not absolutely necessary soe particularly to be knowne These are rightly sayd to bee the rule of our faith because the principles of euery science are the rule whereby wee iudge of the truth of all things as being better and more generally knowne then any other thing and the cause of knowing them Thirdly the Analogie due proportion and correspondence that one thing in this diuiue knowledge hath with another soe that men cannot erre in one of them without erring in another nor rightly vnderstand one but they must likewise rightly conceiue the rest Fourthly whatsoeuer bookes were deliuered vnto vs as written by them to whom the first and immediate reuelation of diuine truth was made Fiftly whatsoeuer hath been deliuered by all the Saints with one consent which haue left their iudgment and opinion in writing Sixtly whatsoeuer the most famous haue constantly and vniformely delivered as a matter of faith no man contradicting though many other Ecclesiasticall writers be silent and say nothing of it Seuenthly that which the most and most famous in euery age constantly deliuered as matter of faith and as receiued of them that went before them in such sort that the contradictors and gainsayers wâ—…re in their beginnings noted for singularity nouelty and diuision and afterwards in processe of time if they persisted in such contradiction charged with heresie These three latter rules of our faith we admit not because they are equall with the former originally in themselues containe the direction of our faith but because nothing can be deliuered with such and so full consent of the people of God as in them is expressed but it must needes bee from those first Authors and founders of our Christian profession The Romanists adde vnto these the decrees of Councels and determinations of Popes making these also to bee the rules of faith but because we haue no proofe of their infallibility we number them not with the rest Thus then we see how many things in seuerall degrees and sorts are said to be rules of our faith The infinite excellency of God as that whereby the truth of the heauenly doctrine is proued The articles of faith and other verities euer expressely knowne in the Church as the first principles are the canon by which we judge of conclusions from thence inferred The Scripture as containing in it all that doctrine of faith which Christ the Sonne of GOD deliuered The vniforâ—…e practice and consenting judgement of them that went before vs as a 〈◊〉 and vndoubted explication of the things contayned in the Scripture The Scripture saith Vincentius Lirinensis is full and sufficient to all purposes but because of the manifold turnings of heretiques it is necessary that the line of Propheticall and Apostolicall interpretation be drawnâ—…â—…owne and directed vnto vs according to the rule of Ecclesiasticall and Catholique sense So then we doe not so make the Scripture the rule of our faith but that other things in their kinde are rules likewise in such sort that it is not safe without respect had vnto them to judge of things by the Scripture alone For without the first rule we cannot know the Scripture to be of God Without the second and third we haue no forme of Christian doctrine by the direction whereof to judge of particular doubts and questions without the other rules wee cannot know the authors and number of the Bookes of Scripture nor the meaning of the things therein written For who shal be able to vnderstand them but hee that is settledin these things which the Apostles presupposed in their deliuery of the Scripture We doe not therefore so make the Scripture the rule of our faith as to neglect the other nor so admit the other as to detract any thing from the plenitude of the Scripture in which all things are contained that must bee beleeued CHAP. 15. Of the challenge of Papists against the rule of Scripture charging it with obscurity and imperfection THis rule our adversaries least esteeme of charging it with obscurity and imperfection and thereupon rely vpon humane interpretations and vncertaine traditions Touching their first challenge made against this rule of the scripture as being obscure and darke and so not fit to giue direction to our faith vnlesse it borrow light from some thing else wee aunswere there is no question but there are manifold difficulties in the scripture proceeding partly from the high and excellent nature of the things therein contained which are without the compasse of naturall vnderstanding and so are wholly hidden from naturall men and not knowne of them that are spirituall without much trauaile and studious meditation partly out of the ignorance of tongues and of the nature of such things by the coÌ„parison whereof the matters of divine knowledge are manifested vnto vs. But the difference betweene their opinion and ours concerning this difficultie is first in that they thinke the scripture so obscure and hard to be vnderstood that Heretiques may wrest and abuse it at their pleasures and no man be able to convince their folly by the evidence of the Scripture it selfe Secondly in that they thinke that wee cannot by any helpes bee assured out of the Scripture it selfe and the nature of the things therein contayned that that is the true meaning of it which wee thinke to be but that we rest in it onely for the authority of the Church But wee say that men not neglecting that light of direction which the Church yeeldeth nor other helpes and meanes may be assured out of the nature of the things themselues the conference of places the knowledge of tongues and the sutable correspondence that one part of diuine truth hath with another that they haue found out the true meaning of it and so be able to convince the adversaries and gainesayers CHAP. 16. Of the interpretation of Scripture and to whom it pertayneth TOuching this poynt there are two questions vsually proposed the one to whom the interpretation of the Scripture pertaineth the other by what rules and meanes men may finde out tâ—…e true meaning of it Tâ—…ching the first our Adversaries jangle
risen from the dead remembred these words vnderstood that they were spoken of our Sauiour of the Temple of his body and the resurrection of it So likewise when they saw the miserable and abhominable overthrow of Ierusalem and the Temple they could not but vnderstand what was meant by the prophecie of Daniel touching the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place Thus hauing cleared that doubt which some make touching the multiplicitie of senses of the words of Scripture as if there were no certaine meaning of them and hauing shewed which is that sense we must principally seek after as being the foūdation of the rest it remaineth that we come to speak of the rules of direction the helpes we haue to attaine to the vnderstanding of the true meaning of the Scripture For as Hierome fitly noteth Non putemus in verbis scripturarum esse euangelium sed in sensu non in superficie sed in medulla non in sermonum folijs sed in radice rationis We must not thinke that the Gospell consisteth in the words of Scripture but in the sense and meaning not in the outward rinde and skinne but in the inward pith and marrow not in the leaues of the words but in the roote and ground of reason CHAP 19. Of the rules we are to follow and the helpes we are to trust to in interpreting the Scriptures TOuching the rules wee are to follow the helpes wee are to trust vnto and the things required in the interpretation of Scripture I thinke we may thus resolue First there is required an illumination of the vnderstanding for the naturall man perceiueth not the things of God for they are spiritually discerned but the spirituall man iudgeth all things and himselfe is iudged of none Secondly a minde free from the thought of other things depending on God as the fountaine of illumination desirous of the truth with resolution to imbrace it though contrary to the conceits of naturall men Thirdly the knowledge of the rule of faith formerly set downe and the practice of the Saints according to the same Fourthly a due consideration what will follow vpon our interpretation agreeing with or contrary to the things generally receiued and beleeued among Christians in which consideration the conference of other places of Scripture and the things there deliuered is necessary For the consideration of the circumstances of the places interpreted the occasion of the words the things going before and following after Sixtly the knowledge of all those Histories Artes and Sciences which may helpe vs. For seeing grace presupposeth nature and the Scripture doth not teach vs but presupposeth wee know already the things that may be discerned by the light of nature many doe not vnderstand sundry passages of Scripture because they bring not with them to the study of it that degree of naturall knowledge which is requisite Seuenthly the knowledge of the originall tongues and the phrases and Idiotismes of them Soe that to resolue this matter yet more distinctly and fully there are some things required for the attaining of the right vnderstanding of Scripture as making vs capable of such vnderstanding of which sort is the illumination of the minde some things as meanes whereby wee attaine vnto it These are of two sorts either disposing and preparing only as often reading meditating and praying or else guiding vs in the very search it selfe Thēse are either generall and most infallible as the rule of faith which if wee follow wee are sure not to depart from the generall verity of the Christian faith or more proper and speciall directing vs to the true finding out of the meaning of particular places of Scripture There is therefore betweene our aduersaries and vs no difference in this matter if they wil vnderstand themselues For we confesse that neither conference of places nor consideration of the antecedentia consequentia nor looking into the originals are of any force vnlesse we finde the things which wee conceiue to bee vnderstood and meant in the places interpreted to be consonant to the rule of faith And they confesse that though alone and without respect had to the rule of faith they be but probable meanes of direction and not absolutely certaine yet that being joyned with the rule of faith they helpe and are exceedingly necessary Illyricus in his Clauis scripturae speaking of the difficulties that are found in Scripture and how they may be cleared sheweth that nothing is more necessary for the vnderstanding of the Scripture than to be rightly taught the generall principles and axiomes of Diuinity out of which doe flowe and on which do depend whatsoeuer things are contained in the Scripture and then commeth to the other media assigned before Neither is there any of our Diuines that euer thought otherwise CHAP 20. Of the supposed imperfection of Scriptures and the supply of Traditions THus hauing shewed what that difficulty and obscurity is which is found in Scripture who must interpret it and by what rules they must be guided in the interpretatiō of it it remaineth that in the next place we cleare the scriptures from the other imputation of our adversaries which is imperfection which they indeauour to supply by addition of traditions The necessity of writing for the preseruation and safe keeping of those treasures of learning and wisdome which wee desire should remaine and be knowne to posterities appeareth in that fewe things remaine of Socrates Pythagoras others renowned in the times wherein they liued for wisdome and learning because they left nothing in writing as also by that of blessed Iob Oh that my wordes were written c. as if there were no other meanes to preserue the remembrance of things that they should neuer be forgotten but writing only The Auncients had the knowledge of God without writing but how soone it decayed it easily appeareth Surely it failed in euery family in one at the least till the time of Iacob father of the 12. Patriarkes And therefore after God took the whole posterity of Iacob to be his peculiar people a fauour which he shewed not to any of his fathers before hee gaue them his lawes in writing which Scripture or writing was so full and perfect that the Iewes had nothing deliuered vnto them pertaining to the knowledge or seruice of God that was not written The instance that our adversaries giue to the contrary is concerning the females and males dying before the eighth day who not being circumcised they presume they were sanctified to God and found remission of their Originall and birth sinne by some other sacred rite and Sacramentall meanes appointed by God though not written This instance is clearely refuted by Andradius If sayth he we shall more diligently looke into the thing itselfe wee shall finde that the Iewes had no set or certaine rite of religion wherewith to sanctifie cleanse their women children or males that died before circumcision from the
pollution of originall sin and if perhaps any did sometimes vse any forme or rite it was rather a matter of priuate voluntary deuotion than of necessitie For whereas parents stand bound by the generall law of God and nature with all thankefull acknowledgment to receiue their children as a great and speciall benefit from God this their faith pietie and thankefullnesse joyned with desire of and prayer for their Good prosperous and happy estate was accepted and found fauour with God on the behalfe of their children Whereupon Gregory pronounceth that the faith of the parents was of the same force with them of the old time that the Baptisme of water is with vs. And whereas Augustine sayth it is not likely that the people of God before the institution of Circumcision had noe Sacrament wherewith to present their children to GOD though the Scripture haue not expressed it it is not to bee vnderstood sayth Andradius of any outward ceremonies necessary for the sanctification of those Infants but of any rite offering them to GOD whether mentall onely or outwardly object to the eye and sense That which Andradius addeth that it could not be knowne but by tradition onely that the faith of the parents was in stead of circumcision before circumcision was instituted and after the institution of it to them that might not lawfully or could not possibly be circumcised is frivolous for men knew it concluded it out of the generall and common rules of reason and equity Touching the state of the people of God since the comming of Christ our adversaries make no doubt but they can easily proue that the writings which the Church that now is hath are defectiue and imperfect This they endeauour to proue First because the Scriptures of the New Testament were written vpon particular occasions offered and not of purpose to containe a perfect rule of faith Secondly because they were written by the Apostles and other Apostolique men out of their owne motions and not by commandement from Christ the Sonne of GOD. But vnto both these Arguments alleadged by our Adversaries we answere that they containe matter of very grosse errour For first who seeth not plainly that the Evangelistes writing the historie of Christs life and death Saint Luke in the booke of the Acts of the Apostles describing the comming of the Holy Ghost the admirable gifts of grace powred vpon the Apostles and the Churches established and ordered by them and the blessed Apostle Saint Iohn writing the Revelations which hee saw concerning the future state of things to the end of the world meant to deliuer a perfect summe of Christian doctrine and direction of Christian faith It is true indeed that the Epistles of the Apostles directed to the Christian Churches that then were were occasionally written yet so as by the providence of God all such things as the Church beleeueth not being found in the other parts of Scripture purposely writtē are most clearely at large deliuered in these Epistles Secondly touching the other part of their Argument which they bring to convince the Scripture of imperfection because they that wrote it had no commaundement to write wee thinke it needeth no refutation for the absurditie of it is evident and cleare of it selfe For who knoweth not that the Scriptures are not of any priuate motion but that the holy men of God were moued impelled and carried by the spirit of truth to the performance of this worke doing nothing without the instinct of the Spirit which was vnto them a Commandement The imperfection defect supposed to be foundin the Scripture our adversaries endeavour to supply by addition of traditions The name of Tradition sometimes signifieth euery Christian doctrine deliuered frō one to another either by liuely voyce only or by writing as Exod. 17. Scribe hoc ob monumentum in libro trade in auribus Iosuae Write this for a remembrance in a Booke and deliuer it in the eares of Iosuah Act. 6. 14. The written Law of Moses is called a Tradition Audivimus eum dicentem quoniam Iesus destruet locum istum mutabit traditiones quas tradidit nobis Moses We heard him say that Iesus shall destroy this place and change the traditions which Moses deliuered vnto vs. Sometimes the name of tradition signifieth that which is deliuered by liuely voyce onely and not written That which I receiued of the Lord saith the Apostle that I deliuered vnto you In this question by tradition we vnderstand such parts of Christian doctrine or discipline as were not written by them by whom they were first deliuered For thus our Adversaries vnderstand Traditions which they diuide into divers kindes First in respect of the Authors so making them of three sorts Divine Apostolicall Ecclesiasticall Secondly in respect of the matter they concerne in which respect they make them to be of tvvo sorts for either they cōcerne matters of faith or matters of manners and these latter againe either temporall or perpetuall vniuersall or particular All these in their seuerall kindes they make equall with the wordes precepts and doctrines of Christ the Apostles Pastors of the Church left vnto vs in writing Neither is there any reason why they should not so doe if they could proue any such vnwritten verities For it is not the writing that giueth things their authoritie but the worth credite of him that deliuereth them though but by word and liuely voyce onely The only doubt is whether there be any such vnwritten traditions or not Much contention there hath beene about Traditions some vrging the necessity of them and other rejecting them For the clearing whereof we must obserue that though we reiect the vncertaine and vaine traditions of the Papists yet wee reiect not all For first wee receiue the number and names of the authors of bookes Diuine Canonicall as deliuered by tradition This tradition we admitte for that though the bookes of Scripture haue not their authority from the Approbation of the Church but winne credite of themselues and yeeld sufficient satisfaction to all men of their Diuine truth whence wee judge the Church that receiueth them to bee led by the spirit of God yet the number Authors and integrity of the parts of these bookes wee receiue as deliuered by tradition The second kinde of tradition which wee admitte is that summarie comprehension of the cheefe heads of Christian doctrine contayned in the Creed of the Apostles which was deliuered to the Church as a rule of her faith For though euery part thereof be contayned in the Scripture yet the orderly connexion distinct explication of these principall articles gathered into an Epitome wherein are implyed and whence are inferred all conclusions theologicall is rightly named a tradition The 3d is that forme of Christian doctrine and explication of the seuerall parts thereof which the first Christians receiuing of the same Apostles that deliuered to them the Scriptures commended
to posterities This may rightly be named a tradition not as if we were to beleeue any thing without the warrant and authority of the Scripture but for that wee neede a plaine and distinct explication of many things which are somewhat obscurely contayned in the Scripture which being explicated the Scriptures which otherwise we should not so easily haue vnderstood yeeld vs satisfaction that they are so indeede as the Church deliuereth them vnto vs. The fourth kind of tradition is the continued practise of such things as neither are contayned in the Scripture expressely nor the examples of such practise expressely there deliuered though the grounds reasons and causes of the necessity of such practise be there contayned and the benefit or good that followeth of it Of this sort is the Baptisme of Infantes which is therefore named a tradition because it is not expressely deliuered in Scripture That the Apostles did baptize infants nor any expresse precept there found that they should so doe Yet is not this so receiued by bare and naked tradition but that wee find the Scripture to deliuer vnto vs the grounds of it The fift kind of traditions comprehendeth such observations as in particular are not commanded in Scripture nor the necessity of them from thence concluded though in generall without limitation of times and other circumstances such things be there commanded Of this sort many thinke the observation of the lent fast to be the fast of the fourth and the sixt dayes of the weeke and some other That the Apostles deliuered by liuely voyce many obseruations dispensable and alterable according to the circumstances of times and persons we make no question Onely this we say that they are confounded with Ecclesiasticall traditions so that which they are doth hardly appeare and that they doe not necessarily binde posterities The custome of standing at prayer on the Lords day and betweene Easter and Whitsontinde was generally receiued as deliuered by Apostolique tradition and when some beganne to breake it is was confirmed by the Councell of Nice yet is it not thought necessary to be obserued in our time Out of this which hath beene sayd wee may easily resolue what is to bee thought touching traditions For first the Canon of scripture being admitted as deliuered by Tradition though the diuine truth of it be in it selfe cleare and euident vnto vs not depending of the Churches authority there is noe matter of faith deliuered by bare and onely tradition as the Romanists seeme to Imagine Yea this is so cleare that therein they contrary themselues indeauouring to proue by scripture the same things they pretend to hold by tradition as wee shall finde if wee run through the things questioned betweene them and vs. The onely cleare instance they seeme to giue is touching the perpetuall virginity of Mary which they say cannot be proued by scripture and yet is necessary to be beleeued But they should know that this is no point of Christian faith That shee was a Virgin before in and after the birth of Christ wee are bound to beleeue as an article of our faith and so much is deliuered in scripture and in the Apostles Creede but that shee continued so euer after is a seemely truth deliuered vnto vs by the Church of God fitting the sanctity of the blessed Virgin and the honour due to soe sanctified a vessell of Christs incarnation as her body was and soe is de pietate but not de necessitate fidei as the Schoole-men vse to speake Neither was Heluidius condemned of Heresie for the deniall hereof but because pertinaciously hee vrged the deniall of it vpon misconstruction of scripture as if the deniall of it had beene a matter of faith Touching this Allegation of our Aduersaries concerning Maries perpetuall Virginity wee must know that howsoeuer they pretend to hold it onely by tradition yet the Fathers that defend it against Heluidius endeauour to proue it by the Scripture Their instance of Childrens Baptisme is most apparantly against themselues for they confesse it may be proued by scripture Bellarmine proueth it by three reasons taken from the scripture The first is from the proportion betweene Baptisme and Circumcision the Circumcision of Children then and the Baptisme of them now This argument he saith as they propose it cannot be auoyded The second from these two places Iohn 3. Except a man be borne a new of water and of the spirit hee cannot enter into the kingdome of Heauen And that other Suffer little children to come vnto mee for vnto such belongeth the Kingdome of Heauen This Argument he sayth is strong effectuall and pregnant to proue the necessity of the Baptisme of Infants The third is taken from the Baptizing of whole families by the Apostles in which by all likelihood there were infants Surely in this point of traditions our aduersaries bewray their great folly inconstancie making it euident to the whole world they know not what they say Bellarmine sayth that many things touching the matter and forme of sacraments are holden by tradition as not being contained in scripture and yet in the particulars there is nothing defined in the Church of Rome touching these things which he indeauoureth not to proue by scripture Some alleage for proofe of tradition the consubstantiality of the sonne of God with the Father and the proceeding of the holy Ghost from them both Others constantly affirme that these things are proued by scripture Some of them say Pugatory is holden by tradition others thinke it may bee proued by scripture g Melchior Canus endeauouring to proue the necessity of traditions produceth sundry things as not written as inuocation of Saints worshipping of images the Priests consecrating and partaking in both parts of the sacrament That ordination and confirmation are to bee conferred and giuen but onely once which when hee hath alleaged hee dareth not say the scripture doth not deliuer them for feare of gainesaying the truth in some of them and his owne fellowes in other And therefore hee sayth These things perhaps the scripture hath not deliuered For Bellarmine thinketh the Scripture doeth strongly proue the Invocation and worship of Saints and Angels and who is so impudent to deny that the Ministers of the Church are bound by the commaundement of Christ contayned in the Scripture to consecrate and participate in both parts of the Sacrament That confirmation and ordination once conferred are not to be reiterated may be concluded out of the nature of them described vnto vs in the Scripture So that for matters of faith wee may conclude according to the judgement of the best and most learned of our adversaries themselues that there is nothing to be beleeued which is not either expressely contayned in Scripture or at least by necessary consequence from thence and other things evident in the light of nature or in the matter of fact to bee concluded That there were many speeches and diuine sayings of our
without partiality and Iudge betweene vs as God shall direct thee THE FIRST PART Contayning a discouery of the vanitie of such silly exceptions as haue beene taken against the former foure Bookes by one Theophilus Higgons §. 1. THE first exception Master Higgons is pleased to take against me is that in all my foure Bookes I haue not graced any Father with the glorious title of Saint his words are these I am bold to intreat D Feildes leaue to honour Augustine with the name of Saint howsoeuer hee hath not once vouchsafed in his foure Books to grace him or any Father with this glorious title It is strange that such a novice as he is should dare to begin in so scornfull a manner with so shamelesse an vntruth as if hee had been anold practitioner in the faculty of lying but his desire it seemeth was to giue as good proofe at first as possibly hee might of the good seruice hee is like to do if his new Masters wil be pleased to make vse of him imploy him as they do others For otherwise he could not but know he might easily be convinced of a lye for I haue giuen the title of Saint to Augustine that worthy and renowned Father more then once twice or thrice I call Leo blessed Leo so giue him a title aequivalent to that of Saint more often found in the writings of the Ancient If happily it offend him that euery time I name any Father I giue him not the title of Saint let him take the paines to peruse the writings of Alexander of Hales Tho. Aquinas Scotus Durandus Waldensis Sixtus Senensis and other of that sort I doubt not but hee will soone perceiue his folly cease to be angry with me any longer vnlesse he be resolued to condemne them also This surely is a childish and a bad beginning and may make vs justly feare he will performe little in that which followeth §. 2. THat which he hath in the next place that D Humphrey and I admit try all by the Fathers is true but to no purpose for he and his consorts know right well that the Fathers make nothing for them and therefore they are soone weary of this course of tryall as often as they are brought to it as it appeared by Hardinges writing against Bishoppe Iewell For whereas the challenge was made by that worthie Bishoppe to try the matter of difference betweene the Romanists and vs not onely by discourse of reason or testimonies of Scripture wherein all the world knâ—…w our Adversaries to be too weake but by authorities of the Auncient wherein they were thought to haue more strength And whereas to that purpose hee brought out against them all the renowned Fathers and Bishoppes that lined in auncient times the decrees of Councels then holden and the report of Historians Harding could finde none to speake for him but Martialis Abdias Amphilochius such branded counterfeits nor no other proofes of his cause but the fayned Epistles of the auncient Popes and shamelesse forgeries vnder the honourable names of holy Fathers with other-like base stuffe The thing that offendeth Master Higgons in Doctor Humphrey is that he saith the Romanistes are like Thrasilaus who in a madde humour tooke all the shippes in the Atticke hauen to bee his owne though he possessed not one vessell or rather maketh the degree of their phrensie greater because they see and yet seeing dissemble that they are destitute of all defence from the Fathers Which saying of the worthy and renowned Doctor is most true and shall bee defended against a farre better man then Theophilus Higgons though childishly hee charge him with Notable and vast vntruth in this behalfe Neither shall hee nor any of his great Masters euer proue that I haue vntruely alleadged the cause why Luther Zuinglius and other at the first seemed to decline the tryall by the Fathers for the true cause was indeede as I haue alleadged the feare of the corruptions of the Fathers workes and writings and not any imagination that the Fathers generally from the beginning were in errour which is so barbarous a conceit that it cannot enter into the heart of any reasonable man Neither was it any folly in them as this wise man is pleased to censure the matter to decline the tryall by the Fathers in those times after barbarisme superstition and tyrannie had so long prevayled and almost layd waste all learning religion and liberty of the Church seeing Vincentius Lyrinensis prescribeth that after Heresies haue long preuailed growne inueterate wee shoulde flie to the Scriptures alone SECT 3. IN the third place he saith Hee was desirous to vnderstand why amongst other particulars I should esteeme it a folly and inconstancy in the Romanistes to say that Purgatory is holden by Tradition and yet proued by Scripture Which argueth that the man is either very weake in vnderstanding or else maketh himselfe more simple then indeed he is For hauing shewed that the name of Tradition sometime signifieth euery part of Christian Doctrine deliuered from one to another either by liuely voyce only or by writing sometimes such partes there of onely as were not written by them to whom they were first deliuered and that our Aduersaries so vnderstand the word in the controuersies betweene them and vs. I note it as a contradiction amongst Papistes that some of them say Purgatory is holden by Tradition in that latter sence other that it is proued by Scripture as likewise that some of them alledge for proofe of vnwritten Traditions the article of the consubstantiality of the Sonne of God with the Father and the proceeding of the holy Ghost from them both and others constantly affirme that those Articles may bee proued out of Scripture Now if to bee written and not to bee written to be holden by vnwritten Tradition or Tradition opposite to writing and to bee proued out of Scripture bee not contradictory in Master Higgons his apprehension it is no great matter of what side he be § 4. IN the Fourth place he saith I accept the rule of Saint Augustine that whatsoeuer is frequented by the vniuersall Church and was not instituted by Councels but was alwayes holden that is beleeued most rightly to be an Apostolicall tradition And that liberally I adde that whatsoeuer all or the most famous and renowned in all ages or at the least is diuers ages haue constantly deliuered as receiued from them that went before them no man doubting or contradicting it may be thought to be an Apostolical tradition Whence hee thinketh hee may conclude ineuitably by my allowance that prayer for the dead may bee thought to be an Apostolicall tradition many famous and renowned Fathers in diuers ages mentioning prayer for the dead and none disliking or reprouing it For answere whereunto I say that prayer for the resurrection publike acquittall in the day of Iudgement and perfit consummation and blisse of them that
that they are not beleiued by the Church or they shal be shewed him in those Epistles Wherfore let vs see what he hath more to say One of the Apostolicall Epistles he saith is lost namely that which Paul wrote to the Laodiceans in which there might be something necessarily to be beleeued that is not fouÌ„d in any other book of the New Testament Therefore it may be thought that there is some want imperfection in the books of the New Testament This truly is a very idle and and silly obiection for though there was a certaine Epistle to the Laodiceans carried about and read by some in auncient times yet as Hierome testifieth it was exploded by all and Chrysostome and Theodoret are of opinion that Paul neuer wrote any Epistle to the Laodiceans but that the Epistle hee speaketh of was written from Laodicea or by the Laodiceans to informe him of the state of things amongst themselues or amongst the Colossians by whom hee would haue it read And Cardinall Baronius himselfe approueth their opinion rather then the other That which he hath of my admitting traditions I will answere when I come to examine his next section §. 8. IN his next section he hath these words Barlow and Field two famous English Protestants admitte certaine Apostolicall traditions And farther hee addeth that I allow of certaine rules for the discerning of Apostolicke traditions from such as are not such Whereunto wee answere that wee admit sundry kindes of tradition and yet deny that any thing concerning fayth or the necessary direction and information of mens manners is to bee beleeued and receiued that is not written For we say nothing was deliuered by tradition but the bookes of Scripture thinges in some sort therein contayned and thence deduced and certaine dispensable obseruations not at all or hardly to be discerned from Ecclesiasticall constitutions Neither is it new or strange that wee should admit some kinds of traditions For Kemnitiuâ—… acknowledgeth all those kinds that I meÌ„tion which will no way help the Papists For the question between theÌ„ vs is not whether there be any traditions or not For it is most certaine that the bookes of Scripture are deliuered by tradition But it beeing â—…upposed that the holy men of God taught immediately by Christ his Sonne â—…ded certaine bookes to posterities and agreed on which those bookes are whâ—…her they containe all thinges necessary to bee knowne and practised by Christian â—…en for the attayning of euerlasting life and saluation Wee say they doe they deny it Yet will the Treatiser proue from hence contrary to my assertions that according to my owne grounds tradition is the very foundation of my faith For if Protestantes receiue the number names of the Authours and integrity of the parts of bookes divine and canonicall as deliuered by tradition as I say they doe and if without tradition wee cannot know such diuine bookes hee thinketh it consequent that tradition is the ground of our faith But indeede there is no such consequence as hee imagineth For it is one thing to require the tradition of the church as a necessary meaâ—…s whereby the bookes of Scripture may be deliuered vnto vs and made known another to make the same tradition the ground of our faith seeing in the judgment of the Treatiser himselfe euery thing is not the ground of our saith builded vpon Scripture without which we cannot know the Canonicall bookes of Scripture from such as are not of that ranke As it is euident in that he distinguisheth the groâ—…d of our faith reason of our beleeuing from the condition required to the producing of such an act of fayth denying the churches proposing of things to bee beleeued to be the ground of our faith and yet requiring it as a necessary condition without which ordinarily men cannot beleeue So that though we know the names of the writers of the books of holy Scripture by tradition and that there were no more bookes nor no more partes of bookes of this kinde left to posterities by the Apostles but such as the church deliuereth to vs yet it is not consequent that wee haue no other ground of our perswasion that the bookes deliuered to vs and the parts thereof are canonicall but tradition for the euidence of diuine power and majesty shewing it selfe in them more then in all humane compoÌ„sitions whatsoeuer proueth them to haue proceeded from the immediate inspiration of the holy Ghost breathing in them nothing but heauenly grace The words of holy Scripture sayth Picus Mirandula are rude and plaine but full of life and soule they haue their sting they pierce and enter in euen to the most secret spirit and strangely transforme him that with due respect readeth them and meditateth on them And besides there are sundry diuine and conuincing reasons that the summe of Christian doctrine contayned in these bookes is nothing else but heauenly truth and being without the compasse of that wee naturally vnderstand reuealed trueth So that the Treatiser doth greatly forget himselfe when hee pronounceth it to bee false that I say that the Scriptures winne credit of themselues and yeelde sufficient satisfaction to all men of their diuine truth This is the summe of all that hee hath of traditions For where hee saith I affirme that without the Creed of the Apostles wee cannot know the Scriptures to bee of God hee sheweth himselfe to care little whether that hee writeth bee true or false For I no where haue any such thing but where hee saith I affirme that Papists make traditions Ecclesiasticall equall with the written word of God and that this is one of my ordinary vntruths hee deserueth a sharper censure For if the Reader be pleased to peruse the place cited by him hee shall finde that I say no such thing nor any thing that the Pope himselfe can possibly dislike For deliuering the opinion of Papists touching traditions their diuerse kindes and the credit that is to bee giuen vnto them I shew that they make diuine traditions equall with the words precepts and doctrines of Christ left vnto vs in writing apostolicall with the written precepts of the Apostles and ecclesiasticall with the written precepts of the Pastours of the Church confessing that there is no reason why they should not so doe if they could proue any such vnwritten traditions Is this to say that Papists make Ecclesiasticall traditions equall with the written Word of God Is this one of my ordinary vntruthes or rather is not this a bewraying of an extraordinary impudency in him that so saith Surely I feare the Reader will haue a very ill conceipt of him vpon the discerning of this his bad dealing Yet hee goeth forward charging Mee that I make the baptisme of Infants to be an vnwritten tradition whereas yet he knoweth right well that howsoeuer I grant it may be named a tradition in that there is no expresse precept or
Chap. 2. Of the sufficiencie of the Scripture 232. Chap. 3. Of the originall text of Scripture of the certainty and truth of the originals and of the authority of the vulgar translation 238. Chap. 4. Of the translating of the Scripture into vulgar languages and of the necessitie of hauing the publique liturgie and prayers of the Church in a tongue vnderstood ibid. Chap. 5. Of the three supposed different estates of meere nature grace and sinne the difference betweene a man in the state of pure and meere nature and in the state of sinne and of originall sinne 250. Chap. 6. Of the blessed virgins conception 264. Chap. 7. Of the punishment of originall sin and of Limbus puerorum 270. Chap. 8. Of the remission of originall sinne and of concupiscence remaining in the regenerate 272. Chap. 9. Of the distinction of veniall and mortall sinne 277. Chap. 10. Of free will 279. Chap. 11. Of iustification 290. Chap. 12. Of merit 324. Chap. 13. Of workes of supererogation and Counsels of perfection 331. Chap. 14. Of Election and Reprobation depending on the foresight of something in the parties elected or reiected ibid. Chap. 15. Of the seauen Sacraments 332. Chap. 16. Of the being of one body in many places at the same time ibid. Chap. 17. Of transubstantiation 333. Chap. 18. Touching orall Manducation 334. Chap. 19. Of the reall sacrificing of Christs body on the Altar as a propitiatory sacrifice for the quicke and dead 335. Chap. 20. Of remission of sinnes after this life ibid. Chap. 21. Of Purgatory 336. Chap. 22. Of the Saints hearing of our prayers 337. Chap. 23. Of the superstition and idolatrie committed formerly in the worshipping of Images 338. Chap. 24. Of Absolution ibid. Chap. 25. Of Indulgences and Pardons 339. Chap. 26. Of the infallibility of the Popes iudgment 340. Chap. 27. Of the power of the Pope in disposing the affaires of Princes and their states ibid. The fourth Booke is of the Priuiledges of the Church CHAP. 1. OF the diuerse kindes of the priuiledges of the Church and of the different acceptions of the name of the Church 343. Chap. 2. Of the different degrees of infallibility found in the Church 344. Chap. 3. Of the meaning of certaine speaches of Caluine touching the erring of the Church 345. Chap. 4. Of their reasons who thinke the present Church free from all error in matters of faith 346. Chap. 5. Of the promises made vnto the Church how it is secured from errour of the different degrees of the obedience wee owe vnto it 348. Chap. 6. Of the Churches office of teaching and witnessing the truth and of their errour who thinke the authority of the Church is the rule of our faith and that shee may make new articles of faith 350. Chap. 7. Of the manifold errors of Papists touching the last resolution of our faith and the refutation of the same 351. Chap. 8. Of the last resolution of true faith and whereupon it stayeth it selfe 355. Chap. 9. Of the meaning of those words of Augustine that he would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him 358. Chap. 10. Of the Papists preferring the Churches authority before the Scripture ibid. Chap. 11. Of the refutation of their errour who preferre the authority of the Church before the Scripture 359. Chap. 12. Of their errour who thinke the Church may make new articles of faith 361. Chap. 13. Of the Churches authority to iudge of the differences that arise touching matters of faith 362. Chap. 14. Of the rule of the Churches iudgment 364. Chap. 15. Of the Challenge of Papists against the rule of Scripture charging it with obscurity and imperfection 365. Chap. 16. Of the interpretation of Scripture and to whom it pertaineth 366. Chap. 17. Of the interpretation of the Fathers and how farre wee are bound to admit it 368. Chap. 18. Of the diuerse senses of Scripture 369. Chap. 19. Of the rules we are to follow and the helpes wee are to trust to in interpreting the Scriptures 372. Chap. 20. Of the supposed imperfection of Scriptures and the supply of Traditions 373. Chap. 21. Of the rules whereby true Traditions may be knowne from counterfeit 378. Chap. 22. Of the difference of bookes Canonicall and Apocryphall ibid. Chap. 23. Of the Canonicall and Apocryphall bookes of Scripture 379. Chap. 24. Of the vncertainty and contrariety found amongst Papists touching books Canonicall and Apocryphall now controuersed 382. Chap. 25. Of the diuerse editions of the Scripture and in what tongue it was originally written 385. Chap. 26. Of the Translations of the old Testament out of Hebrew into Greeke 387. Chap. 27. Of the Latin translations and of the authority of the vulgar Latine 388. Chap. 28. Of the trueth of the Hebrew Text of Scripture 390. Chap. 29 Of the supposed corruptions of the Greeke text of Scripture ibid. Chap. 30. Of the power of the Church in making Lawes 393. Chap. 31. Of the bounds within which the the power of the Church in making lawes is contained and whether shee may make lawes concerning the worship of God 394. Chap. 32. Of the nature of Lawes and how they binde 397. Chap. 33. Of the nature of Conscience and how the conscience is bound ibid. Chap. 34. Of their reasons who thinke that humane Lawes do binde the Conscience 399. The fifth booke is concerning the diuers degrees orders and callings of those men to whom the gouernment of the Church is committed CHAP. 1. OF the Primitiue and first Church of God in the house of Adam the Father of all the liuing and the gouernement of same 409. Chap. 2. Of the dignity of the first borne amongst the sonnes of Adam and their Kingly and Priestly direction of the rest 410. Chap. 3. Of the diuision of the preeminences of the first borne amongst the sonnes of Iacob when they came out of Aegypt and the Church of God became Nationall 411. Chap. 4. Of the separation of Aaron and his sonnes from the rest of the sonnes of Leui to serue in the Priests office and of the head or chiefe of that company 412. Chap. 5. Of the Priests of the second ranke or order 413. Chap. 6. Of the Leuites 414. Chap. 7. Of the sects and factions in religion found amongst the Iewes in latter times ibid. Chap. 8. Of Prophets and Nazarites 416. Chap. 9. Of Assemblies vpon extraordinary occasions 417. Chap. 10. Of the set Courts amongst the Iewes their authority and continuance 418. Chap. 11. Of the manifestation of God in the flesh the causes thereof and the reason why the second Person in the Trinity rather tooke flesh then either of the other 423. Chap. 12. Of the manner of the vnion that is between the Person of the Sonne of God and our nature in Christ and the similitudes brought to expresse the same 429. Chap. 13. Of the communication of the properties of eyther nature in Christ consequent vpon the vnion of them in his Person
nescientes that is there are some that are wittingly heretikes some vnwittingly For though no man do or can wittingly erre or be deceiued yet a man may wittingly be an heriticke and though no man thinke that to be true which he knoweth to be false or that to be false which he knoweth to be true which were wittingly to erre yet a man may forsake that which he knoweth to be the profession of Christians iudge it erronious false and impious choose some other kind of religion which is wittingly to be an heriticke Such are Apostates which depart from that which they know to be the Christian faith Heretickes vnwittingly are such as thinke that they do most firmely cleaue to the doctrine of Christ his blessed Apostles and holy Church and will not be induced to thinke the whole profession of Christians to be false and erronious as do Apostates yet doe erre in many particulars that pertaine to the faith and thinke that to be the onely true Christian profession which indeede is not as did the Marcionites Manichees and the rest of that sort The things that pertaine to the Christian faith and religion are of two sorts for there are some things explicitè some things implicite credenda that is there are some things that must be particularly and expressly knowne and beleeued as that the father is God the sonne is God and the holy Ghost God and that yet they are not three Gods but one God And some other which though all men at all times be not bound vpon the perill of damnation to know and beleeue expressely yet whosoever will be saued must beleeue them at least implicitè in generality as that IOSEPH MARIE IESVSâ—…edde â—…edde into Egypt Men are bound to know and beleeue things particularly and expressely either in respect of their office and standing in the Church of God in which consideration the pastors guides of the Church who are to teach others are bound to know many things which others of more private condition are not or else for that they are particularly offered to their consideration and so a Lay-man finding it written in the Scripture that Onesimus was a fugitiue seruant and recommended to Philemon his master by Paul is bound particularly to beleeue it which a great Bishop not obseruing or not remembring is not or lastly because they doe essentially and directly concerne the matter of our saluation Hee that erreth in those things which euery one is bound particularly to beleeue because they doe essentially and directly concerne the matter of our salvation is without any farther enquirie to bee pronounced an Hereticke Neither neede we to aske whether he joyne obstinacie to his errour for the very errour it selfe is damnable as if a man shall deny Christ to be the Son of GOD coessentiall coequall and coeternall with his Father or that we haue remission of sinnes by the effusion of his bloud But other things that doe not so neerely and directly touch the substance of Christian faith and which a man is not bound vpon the perill of damnation expressely to know and beleeue but it sufficeth if he beleeue them implicité and in praeparatione animi that is if he carry a minde prepared and ready to yeeld assent vnto them if once it shall appeare that they are included in and by necessarie consequence to be deduced from those things which expressely he doth and must beleeue as that Moses saw the promised land but entred not into it or that the Queene of the South came from the vttermost endes of the world to heare the wisedome of Salomon A man may bee ignorant of and bee deceiued in them and yet without all touch of heresie or perill of damnation vnlesse hee adde pertinacie vnto errour Neither doth euery pertinacie joyned with errours in this kinde make them Heresies For all they are in some degree to bee judged pertinacious that neglect the censure and judgment of them whom they should reverence and regard and stand in defence of those errours which if they had vsed that carefull diligence which they should in searching out the truth they had not fallen into but that onely when men erring in things of this kinde they are so strongly carried with the streames of misperswasion that rather than they will alter their opinion or disclaime their error they will deny some part of that which euery one that will be saued must know and beleeue So in the beginning Nestorius did not erre touching the vnitie of Christs person in the diuersitie of the natures of GOD and man but only disliked that Mary should be called the Mother of GOD which forme of speaking when some demonstrated to be very fitting and vnavoidable if Christ were GOD and Man in the vnitie of the same person he chose rather to deny the vnitie of Christs person then to acknowledge his temeritie and rashnesse in reprouing that forme of speech which the vse of the Church had anciently receiued and allowed CHAP. 4. Of those things which euery one is bound expressely to know and beleeue and wherein no man can erre without note of heresie SEeing then the things which Christian men are bound to beleeue are of so different sort and kinde let vs see which are those that doe so neerely touch the very life and being of the Christian faith and religion that euery one is bound particularly and expressely to know and beleeue them vpon perill of eternall damnation They may most aptly be reduced to these principal â—…heads First concerning God whom to know is eternall life wee must beleeue and acknowledge the vnity of an infinite incomprehensible and eternall essence full of righteousnesse goodnesse mercie and trueth The trinitie of persons subsisting in the same essence the Father Sonne and holy Ghost coessentiall coeternall and coequall the Father not created nor begotten the Sonne not created but begotten the holy Ghost not created nor begotten but proceeding Secondly wee must know and beleeue that God made all things of nothing that in them hee might manîfest his wisedome power and goodnesse that hee made men and Angels capable of supernaturall blessednesse consisting in the vision and enjoying of himselfe that hee gaue them abilities to attaine therevnto and lawes to guide them in the wayes that leade vnto it that nothing was made euill in the beginning that all euill entred into the world by the voluntary aversion of men and Angels from God their Creator that the sinne of Angels was not generall but that some fell and others continued in their first estate that the sinne of those Angels that fell is irremissible and their fall irrecouerable that these are become diuels and spirits of errour seeking the destruction of the sonnes of men that by the misperswasion of these lying spirits the first man that euer was in the world fell from God by sinfull disobedience and apostasie that the sinne of the first man is deriued to all his
that vpon his bare word wee should beleeue so shamelesse a lye For Augustine which was before this Persian in his booke De moribus Ecclesiae libro primo capite tricesimo quarto hath the same heresie as it pleaseth these heretikes to call it Nolite inquit consectari turbas imperitorum qui in ipsà verâ religione superstitiosi sunt Novi multos esse sepulchrorum picturarum adoratores quos mores Ecclesia condemnat quotidiè corrigere studet And Gregory after the time of this supposed Persian doth condemne the adoration of Images And the Councell of Frankford likewise after his time as appeareth by Hincmarus and others Besides if Nicephorus follow the judgement of the Fathers of the second Nicene Councell hee meaneth nothing else by that adoration of Images which hee approoueth but the embracing kissing and reverent vsing of them like to the honour wee doe the Bookes of holy Scripture not that Religious worshippe which consisteth in spirit and trueth which the Papists yeelde to their Idoles And so there is as great difference of judgement betweene him and Bellarmine as betweene him and vs. That which Bellarmine addeth against Caluine and others touching the time that Images were first brought into the Church if this place did require the examination of it wee should finde him as notable a trifler therein as in all the rest CHAP. 37 Of the errour of the Lampetians touching vowes THe errour of the Lampetians was as Alphonsus à Castro supposeth that it is not lawfull for men to vowe and by vowing to lay a necessity vpon themselues of doing those things which freely and without any such tye might much better bee performed If they disliked simply all vowing wee doe not approue their opinion as may appeare by that which Kemnisius Zanchius and others haue written to this purpose and therefore wee are vniustly said to fauour their errour That which Bellarmine addeth for the strengthening of this his vniust imputation is a meere calumniation For Luther doth not say that a man should vow to do a thing as long as hee shall bee pleased and then to be free againe when hee shall dislike that which before hee resolued on but that all vowes should be made with limitation to bee so farre performed as humane frailty will permitte that it is better after a vow made to breake it to discend to the doing of that which is lawfull good though not carrying so great show of perfection as that which by vowe was promised than under the pretence of keeping it to liue in all dissolute wickednesse as the manner of the Popish votaries is whereupon the Fathers are cleare that marriage after a vow made of single life is lawfull and that it is better to marry than continuing single to liue lewdly and wantonly CHAP. 38. Of the heresie of certaine touching the verity of the body and blood of Christ communicated to vs in the Sacrament THe last heresie might well haue beene omitted For those heretikes condemned by Theodoret Ignatius and others denied the verity of Christs humane nature and thereupon condemned the Sacrament of his body and blood So that it was not the impugning of Popish Transubstantiation as Bellarmine idlely fancieth that was reprooued in them but the denying of the trueth of that body and blood which all true Christians doe know to bee mystically communicated to them in the Sacrament to their vnspeakeable comfort How then can we be charged with the heresie of these men seeing wee neither deny the verity of Christs humane nature nor make the Sacrament to be a naked figure or similitude only but acknowledge that it consisteth of two things the one earthly and the other heauenly and that the body of Christ is truely present in the Sacrament and communicated to vs though neither Capernaitically to be torne with the teeth nor popishly to bee swallowed and carried downe into the stomacke and belly Thus then wee see how fondly this Cardinall heretike hath indeuoured to prooue vs heretikes and to hold the old condemned heresies of those cursed Arch-heretikes whose frensies wee condemne much more than he and his fellowes doe So that he is so farre from demonstrating either our consent with condemned heretikes that were of old or their consent with the auncient Fathers and consequently the antiquity of their profession that contrarily all that are not blinded with partiality may easily see that the whole course of Popish doctrine is nothing but a confused mixture of errours and all that they write against vs nothing but meere calumniation slander CHAP. 39. Of Succession and the exceptions of the aduersaries against vs in respect of the supposed want of it THus then hauing taken a view of whatsoeuer they can or do alleage for proofe of the antiquity of their doctrine which is the first note of the Church assigned by them let vs come vnto the second which is Succession and see if they haue any better successe in it than in the former In what sense Succession may bee granted to bee a note of the true Church I haue shewed already let vs therefore see how and what our aduersaries conclude from thence against vs or for themselues By this note say they it is easie to prooue that the reformed Churches are not the true Churches of God Ecclesia non est quae non habet sacerdotem saith Hierome against the Luciferians It can be no Church that hath no Ministery And Cyprian to the same purpose pronounceth that the Church is nothing els but Plebs episcopo adunata Thus therefore from these authorities they reason Where there is no ministery there is no Church But amongst the Protestants there is no Ministerie therefore no Church The Minor proposition or assumption of this argument wee deny which they endeuour to prooue in this sorte There is no lawfull calling to the worke of the Ministery amongst the Protestants therefore no Ministery The defects they suppose to bee in the calling of our Bishops and Ministers are two fold first for that they that ordained them in the beginning of this alteration of things in the state of the Church had no power so to doe Secondly for that no man may be ordained but into a voide place either wherein there neuer was any Pastour or Bishop before as in Churches in their first foundation or wherein there hauing beene their place is now voide by the death depriuation or voluntary relinquishment of them that possest it before that so they who are newly elected and ordained may succeede into the void roomes of such as went before them and not intrude vpon their charge wherevnto they are still iustly intituled Our Bishops and Pastours were ordayned and placed in the beginning of the reformation of religion where there were Bishops already in actuall possession These being the defects which they suppose to be in the calling of our Bishops Ministers let
tradition of the Iewes numbred only 22 Canonicall bookes of the old Testament as we do and in his Chronicle he sayth expressely that the bookes of the Macchabees are not in the canon Reade saith Cyrill of Hierusalem in his Catechisme the diuine Scriptures that is the 22 bookes of the old Testament and a litle after Reade therefore these 22 bookes but with the apocrypha haue nothing to doe meditate vpon the diuine Scriptures which wee confidently reade in the Church the holy Apostles the guides of truth who deliuered vnto vs these bookes were more wise and religious then thou art Seing therefore thou art but a sonne transgresse not the precepts of the Fathers Now these are the bookes which thou must reade and then numbreth all the bookes of the old Testament and omitteth all those that are controuersed sauing that hee addeth that of Baruch thinking it a part of Hieremies prophesies Of the same opinion is Epiphanius making no mention of any of the bookes reiected by vs as apocryphall but onely the booke of Wisdome and Iesus the sonne of Sirach which hee saith are profitable but not to be esteemed as the 22 bookes or 27 as some count them that were kept in the arke of the couenant which are the bookes by vs acknowledged to bee canonicall Amphilochius Bishoppe of Iconium writing to Seleucus hath these words I will reckon vnto thee all the bookes that proceeded from the holy Ghost and that thou mayest cleerely conceiue that which concernes this matter I wil first number vnto thee the bookes of the old Testament then he nameth the 5 bookes of Moses Iosua and the Iudges Ruth 4 bookes of the Kings 2 of the Chronicles 2 of Esdras Iob the Psalmes 3 of Solomon the proverbes Ecclesiastes Canticles 12 Prophets Hose Amos Micheas Ioel Abdias Ionas Naum Abacuch Sophonie Haâ—…ge Zacharias Malachias the 4 Prophets Esai Hieremie Ezekiel Daniel and concludeth that to these some adde Hester The reason why some doubted of Hester I haue elsewhere shewed out of Sixtus Senensis to haue been the Apocryphall additions to the booke I haue some where cited this booke as a part of Gregorie Nazianzens workes because some thinke it so to be and put it amongst his workes But Gregory hath deliuered his opinion clearely touching this matter though that booke happily be not his Bee conuersant saith hee day and night in the diuine oracles but least such bookes as are not of this sort deceiue thee for many erroneous bookes are inserted receiue the true and iust number of bookes that are diuine and then nameth all the bookes that wee admitte saue that hee omitteth the booke of Hester vpon the same reason that I noted out of Sixtus Senensis and when he hath named these he addeth those of the new testament and then pronounceth that whatsoeuer is not within this number is to bee accounted amongst bastard counterfeit bookes Origen expounding the first Psalme putteth downe a catalogue of the holy Scriptures of the old Testament writing thus in precise words as Eusebius telleth vs Wee must not be ignorant that the bookes of the old Testament as the Hebrewes doe deliuer are 22 which is the number of their letters and then nameth all the bookes admitted by vs and addeth that the bookes of Macchabees are without this number Athanasius agreeth with Origen writing in this sort All our Scripture that are Christians was giuen by divine inspiration neither hath this Scripture infinite bookes but a definite number and contayned in a certaine canon and these are the bookes of the old Testament Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomie Iosuáh Iudges Ruth the first and second of Kings accounted one booke the third fourth of Kings accounted one booke Chronicles first second accounted one booke Esdras the first second one booke the Psalmes of David 151. Proverbs of Salomon Ecclesiastes Canticles Iob 12 Prophets contayned in one volume Osee Amos Micheas Ioell Abdias Ionas Naum Ambacum Sophonias Aggaeus Zacharias Malachias 4 other Prophets Esai Hieremie Ezechiel Daniel the bookes therefore of the old Testament are 22 in number answerable to the Hebrew letters Beside these there are certaine other bookes of the old Testament that are not in the canon and these are read onely to the Catechumens or Novices Amongst these hee numbreth the Wisedome of Solomon the Wisedome of Iesus the sonne of Sirach Iudith Tobit but mentioneth not the bookes of Macchabees at all to these he addeth the booke of Hester accounting it Apocryphall being misperswaded of the whole by reason of those Apocryphall additions as before I noted out of Sixtus Senensis In the conclusion of his Synopsis he mentioneth together with the former foure bookes of Macchabees and the story of Susanna but sayth they are in the number of them that are contradicted The councell of Laodicea decreeth in this sort Let no bookes be read in the Church but the bookes of the old new Testament and then addeth these are the bookes of the old Testament that are to bee read Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomie Iosuah Iudges Ruth foure bookes of Kings 2 of Chronicles Esdras the booke of the Psalmes 150. the Proverbs of Solomon Ecclesiastes Canticles Iob Hester 12 Prophets Osee c Esay Hieremie Ezekiel Daniel The canons of this councell are confirmed by the sixt generall councell holden in Trullo To these we may adde Damascene who hauing numbred all those bookes and those onely as canonicall that wee doe addeth that the booke of Wisedome and of Iesus the son of Sirach are good bookes and containe good lessons of vertue but that they are not numbred in this account neither were layd vp in the arke Leontius advocatus Byzantinus sayth there are onely 22 bookes of the old Testament reckoneth all those and those onely that wee doe All these worthies that wee haue hitherto produced to testifie in this case are of the Greeke Church wherefore let vs passe to them of the Latine Hilary Bishop of Poictiers saith the law of the old testament is contained in 22 bookes according to the number of the Hebrew letters which are so disposed and put in order according to the tradition of the auncient that there are fiue bookes of Moses that Iosuah is the sixt the Iudges and Ruth the seaventh the first and second of Kings the eigth the third and fourth the ninth 2 of Chronicles the tenth Esdras the eleventh Psalmes 12 Solomons Proverbs Ecclesiastes Canticles 13 14 15 the 12 Prophets 16 Esay Hieremie with the Lamentations and epistle Daniell Ezechiel Iob Hester doe make vp the number of 22 bookes some haue thought good to adde Tobie and Iudith and so to make the bookes to bee 24 in number according to the number of the Greeke letters Ruffinus in the explanation of the Creed which is found amongst the works of Cyprian and so attributed to him setteth downe a Catalogue of those bookes
and in the new there are eight Hugo cardinalis repeateth certaine verses expressing which bookes are Canonicall and which Apocryphall the verses are these Quinque libros Moisi Iosue Iudicum Samuelem Et Melachim tres praecipuos bis sexque Prophetas Hebraeus reliquis censet praecellere libris Quinque vocat legem reliquos vult esse Prophetas Post hagiographasunt Daniel Dauid Hester Esdras Iob Paralipomenon tres libri Solomonis Restant Apocrypha Iesus Sapientia Pastor Et Machabaeorum libri Iudith atque Tobias Hi quia sunt dubii sub canone non numerantur Sed quia vera canunt Ecclesia suscipit illos Here he numbreth the bookes Canonicall and Apocryphall as wee do And the same Hugo in prologū galeatum speaking of the bookes reiected by vs saith that these bookes are not receiued by the Church for proofe of doctrine but for information of manners And in another place he saith they are not counted amongst the Canonicall Cardinall Caietan sayth those bookes only are to be accounted Canonicall which Hierome so accounted and admitteth none of those that are now questioned this he wrote at Rome as himselfe telleth vs in the yeare 1532. From the Church of Rome which was the principall amongst these of the West let vs proceed to see what other Churches thought of this matter Thomas Aquinas proposing the question whether the soules of them that are departed doe know what things are done here it being obiected that the dead do often appeare vnto the liuing as Samuel appeared vnto Saul concerning Samuel he answereth that it may be sayd that he appeared by diuine reuelation according to that in Eccle siasticus 46. or else if the authority of that booke be not admitted because it is not in the Canon of the Hebrewes it may be sayd that that apparition was procured by the diuel Antoninus Archbishop of Florence affirmeth that the authority of the sixe bookes questioned is not sufficient to proue any thing that is in controuersie and that Thomas secunda secundae and Lyranus in his prologue before the booke of Tobias do say that those bookes are not ofsoe greate authority that any sufficient proofes may be drawne from them in matters of faith as from the other bookes And therefore pronounceth he thinketh they haue such authority as the writings of the Fathers approued by the Church And he mentioneth a certaine worke intitled Catholicon the authors name is not knowne but the same author as hee telleth vs pronounceth that none of these books were receiued for proofe of matters of faith but only for information of manners By this of Antoninus who was present at the councell of Florence it will easily appeare to be meerely supposititious that we find in the abridgment of that councell by Caranza that these bookes were pronounced to be canonicall for had they bin so neither would hee nor others haue reiected them after the holding of this councell neither would such a decree haue bin omitted by all others that put out the councells at large and abridged Radulphus Flaviacensis in his commentaries vpon Leuiticus speaking of bookes pertaining to the sacred history hath these words The books of Tobias Iudith and of the Macchabees though they be read for the edification of the Church yet haue no perfect authority Beda after the history of Ezra addeth thus farre the diuine scripture containeth the course of times what things afterwards wee found digested among the Iewes they are taken out of the booke of Macchabees Iosephus the writings of Africanus It appeareth by the Epistle of Hilarie B. of Arles that in Massilia in some other places of France there were that tooke exception to Augustine alleaging a place out of the booke of Wisdome cap. 4. Raptus est ne malitia mutaret intellectam eius and affirmed that this testimonie as not beeing canonicall should haue beene omitted Hugo de sancto victore hauing reckoned the 22 bookes of the old Testament sayth there are besides certaine other bookes as the Wisdome of Solomon the booke of Iesus the sonne of Sirach Iudith Tobias and the booke of Macchabees which are read but are not written in the canon these hee matcheth in authority with the writings of the Fathers Richardus de sancto victore deliuereth his opinion of the same bookes in the same sort and maketh them to be of no greater authority then the writings of the Fathers Petrus Cluniacensis abbas after an enumeration of all the bookes that are canonicall sayth there are yet besides these authenticall bookes 6 other books not to be rejected Iudith Tobias Wisdome Ecclesiasticus and the two bookes of Macchabees which though they attaine not to the high dignitie of the former yet they are receiued of the Church as containing profitable and necessarie doctrine Ockam to the same purpose saith that according to Hierome in his Prologue before the booke of Proverbes and Gregory in his Moralls the booke of Iudith Tobias and the Macchabees Ecclesiasticus and the booke of Wisdome are not to be receiued for confirmation of any matter of faith For Hierome saith as Gregory also doth that the Church readeth the bookes of Iudith Tobias and the Macchabees but accounteth them not amongst the Canonicall Scriptures So also it readeth those 2 volumes of Ecclesiasticus and Wisdome for the edification of the people but not for confirmation of points of faith and Religion Richardus Radulphus Archbishop of Armach and Primate of Ireland saith it is defined in generall Councels that there are 22 authenticall bookes of the Olde Testament Thomas Waldensis Provinciall of the Carmelites heere in England an enemy to Wickliff whose workes were greatly approued by Pope Martin and the Cardinals at that time hath these wordes The length breadth and depth of the city are equall for as in breadth it can enlarge it selfe no farther then to the loue of GOD and our neighbour nor in heigth nor depth then to GOD the rewarder of all so in length which is the Catholique Faith it cannot growe beyond the 12 Articles contained in the Symbole and found scattered in some of the 22 bookes especially seeing the Holy Ghost sayth in the conclusion of all Canonicall Scripture Let him that will take of the water of life freely I professe vnto euery one that heareth the words of this prophesie if any man shall adde GOD shall adde to his plague Lyra writeth thus Now that I haue by Gods helpe written vpon the Canonicall bookes of holy Scripture beginning at Genesis and so going on to the end trusting to the helpe of the same GOD I intend to write vpon those other bookes that are not Canonicall such as are the book of Wisdome Ecclesiasticus Iudith Tobias and the bookes of Macchabees and addeth that it is to bee considered that these bookes which are not Canonicall are receiued by the Church and read in the same for the
information of manners yet is their authority thought to bee too weake to proue things that are in controversie And writing vpon the first of Esdras 1. c. he saith that though the bookes of Tobias Iudith and the Macchabees bee historicall bookes yet he intendeth to pasle them ouer because they are not in the Canon neither with the Iewes nor with the Christians Tostatus Bishop of Abulen approueth the judgment of Lyra. Ximenius that was made a Cardinall in the time of Leo the 10â— put forth the Bibles called Biblia Complutensia and in the Preface before the same treating of the bookes by vs thought to bee Apocryphall hee sayth they are not in the Canon and that the Church readeth them rather for edification of the people then to confirme any doubtfull points of doctrine and that therefore they are not Canonicall Dionysius Carthusianus in his Prologues before the bookes of Ecclesiasticus and Tobias denyeth them to bee Canonicall as also the booke of Iudith and writing vpon the first Chapter of Macchabees hee denieth it to bee Canonicall Ludovicus Vives treating of History sacred and prophane now come in sayth hee the bookes of Kings and the Chronicles the Apocryphall bookes of Hester Tobias and Iudith Esdras which being divided into foure bookes the two first are accounted Canonicall by the Hebrewes the two latter are Apocryphall And in another place speaking of the History of Susanna and Bell he putteth them amongst the Apocrypha With these accordeth Driedo To these may bee added the Glosses The ordinary Glosse was begun by Alcuinus as Antoninus Florentinus Gaguinus doe thinke or by Strabus Fuldensis as Trithemius Sixtus Senensis thinke but it was afterwards inlarged by diuerse which gathered sundry sentences and sayings out of the writings of the Fathers and put them into it This Glosse grew to bee in great request and vsed in all Churches of the West In the preface thereof are these words There are some bookes canonicall some not canonicall betweene which there is as great difference as there is betweene that which is certaine and that which is doubtfull For the canonicall bookes were composed by the immediate direction and suggestion of the holy spirit they that are not canonicall are very good and profitable but their authoritie is not reputed sufficient to proue the things that are questionable This the authour thinketh so cleere that hee fastneth the note of ignorance vpon all such as thinke otherwise and professeth that therefore he held it necessarie to prefixe this preface because there are many who not giuing themselues much to the study of holy Scripture suppose that all those bookes that are bound vp together in the Bible are to bee in like sorte honoured and esteemed not knowing how to put a difference betweene bookes canonicall and not canonicall which the Hebrewes separate from the canon and the Greekes account apocryphall and so oftentimes make themselues ridiculous to them that are learned Hee citeth the authority of Origen Hierome and Ruffinus rejecting the six bookes questioned and though hee knew the opinion of Augustine yet doth hee not follow it onely hee sayth that amongst the bookes not canonicall they that are reiected by Augustine as Baruch and the third and fourth of Esdras are lesse to bee esteemed then those that hee alloweth And immediately after this preface followeth Hieromes epistle to Paulinus and afterwards his prologus galeatus and his prologue before the bookes of Solomon And the glosse every where inculcateth when it commeth to these six bookes that they are not canonicall Incipit liber Tobiae c. Heere beginnes the booke of Tobias which is not canonicall c. In the edition of the Bibles with the Glosses there is found an exposition of the prologues of Hierome written and composed by Brito more auncient then Lyra for hee is cited by him and honoured with the title of a famous and worthy man who professeth that the bookes questioned are not canonicall Gratian in the decree maketh no mention of the opinion of Gelasius touching the canonicall Scriptures disliking as it seemeth his opinion and yet not willing to oppose against it But the Glosse vpon the next distinction saith there are certaine apocryphall bookes that is without authour as the Wisedome of Solomon the booke of Iesus the sonne of Sirach called Ecclesiasticus the booke of Iudith the booke of Tobias and the bookes of the Macchabees these bookes are sayd to bee apocryphall and yet they are read but happily not generally Driedo citeth this place of the glosse and reprehendeth the authour of it as not giving the true reason why these bookes are called apocryphall but yet thinketh as hee doth that they are apocryphall Sanctes Pagninus in his epitome of historicall bookes that are canonicall prefixed before the Bible translated by him into Latine accounteth all those that Hierome doth to be canonicall the rest hagiographall Bruciolus in the preface of his commentaries vpon the Bible translated by him into Italian saith he hath commented vpon all the bookes of the old testament yet hee hath not commented vpon the six bookes that are questioned In the Bibles put out at Antwerpe by Arias Montanus with the interlineall translation all those bookes are omitted In the edition of the Bible printed at Antwerpe by Birkmannus that very yeare that the councell of Trent was holden to determine this point touching the Canonicall and Apocryphall Scriptures and the like the author suppressing his name prefixeth a preface before the same his edition and in it reiecteth all the bookes now questioned in more peremptory sort then many of the former did Here wee see a cloud of witnesses in all ages and in all parts of the world witnessing to the truth of that wee affirme touching the canon of the Scripture and reiecting those bookes as Apocryphall or not Canonicall which wee reiect euen till and after the time of Luther soe that the Church wherein our Fathers liued and died is found as I sayd to bee in this point a Protestant Church wherefore let vs proceed to other particular points of controversie CHAP. 2. Of the sufficiencie of the Scripture THat the Church formerly did not deny the sufficiencie of the Scripture for the direction of Christian men in matters of faith and religion as the Romanists now doe but acknowledged and taught that it containeth all things necessary to salvation accordingly as wee now professe it appeareth by the testimonies of these diuines Gregorius Ariminensis sometimes Prior generall of the friars Heremites of the order of Saint Augustine writing vpon the sentences hath these words That is properly a theologicall discourse that consisteth of sayings or propositions contained in the holy scripture or of such as are deduced thence or at the least of such as are consequent and to bee deduced from one of these this sayth hee is proued ex communi omnium conceptione nam omnes arbitrantur
earnestly to thirst after these waters when hee sayth Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnes but the vngodly having tasted of the wine of mundane joy and temporall riches hate dislike and put from them this water and therefore the Lord sayth well of them by the Prophet Esay 8. Because this people haue refused the waters of Siloe that runne softly and without noyse and haue taken rather Rasin and the sonne of Romelia I will bring upon them the mighty waters of of the floud Siloe is interpreted sent and it signifieth the doctrine of the diuine Law sent vnto vs by Christ the Apostles and other faithfull ones which doctrine the Pastors of the Church are bound vnder the paine of damnation to know and teach whereupon Isidore saith de summo bono lib. 3. c. 46. The Priests shall bee damned for the iniquity of the people if either they neglect to teach them being ignorant or to reproue them when they offend the Lord hauing said by the Prophet I haue set thee as a watch-man ouer the house of Israel and if thou shalt not tell the wicked of his wickednes that hee forsake his euill way he shall dye in his iniquitie but I will require his bloud at thy hand Notwithstanding all this many of the moderne Priests cast from them this learning and say we will none of it because it is not de pane lucrando that is it serueth not to bring in gaine and profite and giue themselues to the study of humane lawes which are not so necessary for the sauing of soules as the law of God because as Odo saith here vpon the Gospell sermone 39. If Christ had knowne that we might more easily attaine saluation by the Lawes of Iustinian he would surely haue taught them vs with his own mouth and haue let that alone which he taught vs and deliuered vnto vs et in quâ continetur implicitè vel explicitè omnis scientia ad salutem necessario requisita and in which is contained expressely or implicitely all knowledge necessarily required to saluation according to that of S. Augustine 2. de doctrinâ Christianâ in fine Whatsoeuer a man learneth without and beside the holy Scripture if it be hurtfull it is there condemned if it bee profitable it may there be found But many Church-men leaue this learning and take vnto them Rasin and the sonne of Romelia Rasin signifieth a picture and Romelia high and mighty thunder so that by Rasin and the sonne of Romelia wee may vnderstand painted and glorious wordes and that wordy thunder of humane lawes which kindes of learning many Ecclesiastical persons assume that they may be by such profession exalted in the courts of great Lords and for this cause as the Prophet addeth the Lord shall bring vpon them the mighty and great waters of the floud that is infernall punishments so saith Odo Hitherto hee hath alleadged the words of Grosthead and Odo In another place he saith concerning them that so contemne the word of God that the Lord complaineth of such by the Prophet Ierem. 2. saying My people hath done two euils they haue forsaken me the fountaine of liuing water and haue digged to themselues broken cisterns to which as Gulielmus Parisiensis saith the decree or canon law may fitly be compared which is a broken cisterne that cannot hold water which though it haue water to day shall haue none to morrow because it shall bee abrogated whereas touching the Law of God it is otherwise and therefore the Psalmist saith thy righteousnesse O Lord is an euerlasting righteousnesse and thy law is trueth Yet is the holy Scripture much contemned by the profession of the Canonists so that the knowledge of holy Scripture and profession of Divinity may say to an ill Advocate or Lawyer as Sara said to Abraham in the 16 of Genesis Thou dealest ill with me I gaue thee my handmaid into thy bosome who seeing that she had conceiued despised me for as Gulielmus Parisiensis saith de vitiis part 4. cap. 6. The profession of Canonists contemneth the profession of Divines and science of holy Scripture because they are not so gainefull as it is When Ismael and Isaack played together Ismael mocked Isaack so that Sarâ—… was forced to intreate Abraham to cast out the bondwoman and her sonne So happily it were behoofefull and profitable for the Church that this Science in a great part should be cast out because it not only contemneth the diuine Science and Law of God but blasphemeth it and in so doing contemneth and blaspheameth God himselfe who is the lawgiuer Here wee haue the opinion of three worthy men touching the sufficiencie of the Scripture and the dangers confusions and horrible euils that followed vppon the multiplying of humane inuentions Many more might be alleadged to the same purpose but these may suffice to let us know what the doctrine of the Church was in the dayes of our Fathers for they deliuer not their priuate conceipts but tel vs what all good and iudicious men conceiued of these things in their times But some men will say wee find often mention of traditions in the writers of former ages soe that it seemeth they did not thinke the Scriptures to containe all things necessary to saluation For the clearing of this doubt wee must obserue that by the name of tradition sometimes all the doctrine of Christ and his blessed Apostles is meant that was first deliuered by liuely voice and afterwards written Sometimes the deliuering of the diuine and canonicall bookes from hand to hand as receiued from the Apostles is named a tradition Sometimes the summe of Christian religion contained in the Apostles creed which the Church receiueth as a rule of her faith is named a tradition but euery one of those articles is found in the Scripture as Waldensis rightly noteth though not together nor in the same forme so that this colection may rightly be named a tradition as hauing beene deliuered from hand to hand in this forme for the direction of the Churches children and yet the Scriptures be sufficient Sometimes by the name of traditions the Fathers vnderstand certaine rites and auncient obseruations And that the Apostles delivered some things in this kind by word and liuely voyce that they wrote not wee easily grant but which they were it can hardly now be knowne as Waldensis rightly noteth But this proueth not the insufficiencie of the Scripture for none of those Fathers speake of points of doctrine that are to be belieued without and besides the Scripture or that cannot be proued from thence though sometimes in a generall sort they name all those points of religion traditions that are not found expressely and in precise tearmes in Scripture and yet may necessarily be deduced from things there expressed Lastly by the name of tradition is vnderstood the sense and meaning of the Scripture receiued from the Apostles and deliuered from hand to hand together with the bookes There are
saith Cassander 3 sorts of traditions for some concerne the doctrine of faith others rites and ceremonies and a third sort things done They that concerne rites and ceremonies are variable according to the different circumstances of times they that are historicall are for the most part vncertaine and are not necessarie to saluation they that are dogmaticall are certaine and perpetuall but by dogmaticall traditions wee vnderstand not any diuine verity not written or any point of doctrine not contained in the Scripture but such points of doctrine as though they are not found in precise termes in holy scripture yet are deduced from the same rightly vnderstood and interpreted as the Apostles did vnderstand and expound them to their hearers and they to such as came after them So that this tradition is nothing else but the explication and interpretation of the Scripture and therefore it may be sayd not vnfitly Scripturam esse implicatam quandam obsignatam traditionem traditionem vero esse Scripturam explicatam resignatam that the Scripture is a kind of tradition inuolued and sealed vp and that tradition is Scripture vnfolded explained and opened This is that which Vincentius Lyrinensis long since deliuered to wit that the Scripture is sufficient and containeth all things necessary to be known of a Christian man for the attaining of saluation but that for the auoiding of the manifold turnings of heretickes peruerting the same to their owne perdition wee must carefully looke to the tradition of the Church deliuering vnto vs the true sense and meaning of it By this which hath beene sayd it appeareth that the Church wherein our Fathers liued and died was in this poynt touching the sufficiencie of the Scripture an orthodoxe and true Protestant Church as it was in the former touching the canon of the Scripture CHAP. 3. Of the originall text of Scripture of the certainety and trueth of the originalls and of the authoritie of the vulgar translation I haue discoursed at large in my fourth booke and the 27. 28. chapters of the same and made it appeare that the principall and best learned divines at since Luthers time taught no otherwise touching these poynts then wee now doe so that I need not insist vpon the proofe hereof CHAP. 4. Of the translating of the Scripture into vulgar languages and of the necessity of hauing the publique liturgie and prayers of the Church in a tongue vnderstood TOuching the translating of the Scriptures it is evident that both aunciently and of late time they haue beene translated into the severall languages of almost all the countries and kingdomes of the whole world where euer Christianity prevailed There is extant a translation of the old new testament in the Armenian tongue which the Armenians now vse put forth as they suppose by Chrysostome of this George the patriarch of Alexandria maketh mention in the life of Chrysostome reporting that when by the Emperours decree hee was sent in banishment into Armenia and stayed at Cucusum hee brought the inhabitants of that region to the faith of Christ and caused the Psalmes of David together with the holy gospells and other histories of the old Testament to bee translated into the Armenian tongue that so the people of that countrey might the sooner and more easily attaine the knowledge of holy Scripture And Theodoret testifieth that the holy Scriptures were translated into the Armenian tongue before his time though hee name not the authour The Slavonians affirme that they haue the Scriptures in their vulgar tongue turned by Saint Hierome and Hierome himselfe in his epistle to Sophronius seemeth to some learned men to intimate so much But yet there is another translation also of the Scriptures into the Slavonian tongue later then that of Hieromes as Scaliger hath obserued written in the Servian character vsed in Rascia Bosina Bulgaria Moldavia Russia Moscovia and other nations of the Slavonian language that celebrate their liturgies after the Greeke ceremonie of which later Methodius the companion of Cyrill is reported to haue beene the authour The former imputed to Hierome is written in the Dalmatian character and is vsed amongst the Liburnians and Dalmatians Istrians Moravians Silesians Bohemians Polonians c. Vulphilas the Goth of whom Socrates maketh mention in his ecclesiasticall historie who liued in the yeare 370 first found out the Gothicke alphabet and first of all deliuered to the Gothes all the diuine Scriptures translated by him out of Greeke into the Gothicke tongue and catholiquely expounded them striving much against the Arrians yet in the end as Theodoret reporteth he declined to the part of Valens the Arrian Emperour moued so to doe by the threates and promises of Eudoxus the Arrian Neither were the Scriptures translated onely into these languages but into the languages of many other nations as Chrysostome and Hierome affirme and in particular into the Aegyptian Persian Indian Scythian and Sarmatian tongues and into the languages of all other nations that receiued the Christian faith as Theodoret telleth vs. As likewise in the times following we read of the like translations of the Scripture into sundry languages of such Nations as were afterwards converted to the Faith or whose languages after altered So Iohn Archbishop of Sivill about the yeare 717 translated it into the Arabique which then was the vulgar speech of that part of Spaine And Beda about the same time some part of it into the Saxon or English Methodius about the yeare 860 into the Slavonique Iacobus de Voragine Archbishop of Genua about the yeare 1290 translated the whole diuine Scripture into the Italian tongue and so did Bruciolus in our age About 200 yeares since the whole Bible was translated into French in the time of Charles the 5th and as the Rhemists tell vs in their preface before the New Testament by them translated into English since Luthers time diuerse learned Catholiques haue published the Bible in the seuerall Languages of almost all the principall provinces of the Latine Church so that the Papists themselues doe not simply condemne the translating of the Scripture into the vulgar tongues But there are some amongst them as Stapleton telleth vs who out of zeale rather then knowledge doe thinke the Lay people should bee wholly restrained from reading the Scriptures in vulgar tongues others more moderate and discreete then these as they would bee thought are of opinion that all are not to bee restrained nor all permitted to reade them but some certaine onely And therefore the Rhemists tell vs that order was taken by the Deputies of the Councell of Trent in this behalfe and confirmed by supreame authority that the holy Scriptures though truely and Catholiquely translated into vulgar tongues yet may not be indifferently readde of all men nor of any other then such as haue expresse licence thereunto by their lawfull ordinaries with good
to the office of Lectors that by the daylie and ordinary vse of reading they may bee fitted to pronounce to the people the wordes of life and with distinction both of vnderstanding and voice to shew vnto the people the things they reade so as that they may bee vnderstood of them that heare them And in the Pontificall wee finde these wordes directed to the Lectors Studete verba Dei videlicet lectiones sacras distinctè apertè ad intelligentiam aedificationem fidelium absque omni mendacio falsitatis proferre That is Bee yee carefull to vtter publish and rehearse the words of God to wit the sacred lessons distinctly and clearely to the vnderstanding and edification of the faithfull without all lying falsehood and vntrueth How generally they vnderstood and spake Latine in Spaine heretofore it may appeare by their present language a barbarisme of Latine as also by the lawes the Gothes gaue vnto them called the Gothique Code written in good Latine And by Lucan Seneca and sundry other principall lights of the Latine tongue So that Marineus Siculus feareth not to say that if the Gothes and Moores and other barbarous nations had not come into Spaine the Spaniards woud still haue spoken as good Latine as the Romans did in the time of Tullie So that it is not vnlikely but that the Spaniards aunciently had their service in Latine but whether they had or not it is evident they had it in a tongue vnderstood by that wee reade in Isidore Oportet vt quando psallitur psallatur ab omnibus cum lectio legitur facta silentio aequè audiatur á cunctis That is It is fitte that when the singing beginneth all should sing when the lesson is read there being a generall silence kept all should equally and in one and the same sorte hearken to that which is read And againe Ideo diaconus clarâ voce silentium admonet vt siue dum psallitur siue dum lectio pronunciatur ab omnibus vnitas conseruetur vt quod omnibus praedicatur aequaliter ab omnibus audiatur That is And therefore doth the deacon also with a cleare and lowd voyce call vpon all to keepe silence that aswell when the singing is as when the lesson is read all may doe one and the same thing that all may heare that which is pronounced equally to all Some other parts there were that had not such vse of the Latine tongue as these had who having Alphabets and characters of their owne so that they could write expresse things in their owne tongues had the whole liturgie and diuine service in their vulgar tongue Of this sort were all those nations kingdomes and people that speake the Slavonian tongue which was the language of more then the third part of Europe besides the Mengrellians Circassians and Gazarites in Asia The characters of this language are of two sorts for there is the Servian character and the Dalmatian All the Christians of Rascia Bosina Servia Bulgaria Moldavia Russia Moscovia and all other nations of the Slavonian language in the Easterne parts that celebrate their liturgies after the Greeke ceremonie and professe obedience to the Patriarch of Constantinople haue the Scriptures in their owne tongue translated as it is sayd by Methodius the companion of Cyrill in preaching the gospell to Gentile nations and written in the Servian character as also their liturgies are The Dalmatian characters are in vse in Dalmatia Liburnia Istria Moravia Silesia Bohemia Polonia c. It is a receiued opinion that Hierome first devised the Dalmatian characters and translated the Scriptures into the Dalmatian tongue but it seemeth that in processe of time his translation was neglected the Latine service brought in and those characters out of vse For Aventinus reporteth that Methodius hauing found out letters and translated the Scripture into the Slavonian tongue perswaded the Dalmatians to explode the Latine tongue to hisse out the Roman rite or ceremonie and make vse of their owne tongue in the holy service of God Eckius confesseth that heretofore the diuine seruice was in the Dalmatian tongue throughout all Illyricum The priests of Liburnia sayth Aventinus which in this our age is subiect to the Archduke of Noricum are yet still ignorant of the Roman tongue and doe say their diuine service in their owne that is in the Slauonian tongue And Iohannes Baptista Palatinus sayth the Slauonians and those of Illyricum haue their service and common prayers in their vulgar tongue and all the people vnderstand it as wee doe our natiue language Auentinus sayth that Methodius went into the kingdome of Boiaria and sought to perswade the inhabitants of Liburnia Noricum Pannonia and Veneda to abandon the Latine and to haue their seruice in the vulgar but Richoualda the Bishop and Adeluinus the Archbishoppe of Salsburge and the priests of 〈◊〉 which successiuely had gouerned the Churches in those parts for the space of 85 yeares according to the decree of Charles the great resisted him and forced him to flie into Morauia But afterwards that which he attempted tooke effect as it appeareth by Auentinus in the words before cited for they of Liburnia had their seruice in the vulgar in his time Hosius confesseth that the seruice in the vulgar tongue was in Bohemia Polonia and that there were some liuing when hee wrote that might remember when in Clepardia in the temple of St Crosse the priests said seruice in the vulgar or Slauon tongue Cromerus sayth that the two Bishoppes Methodius and Cyrillus did good seruice in bringing the people of those parts to the knowledge of God in Christ and that they caused the Slauonians to haue their seruice in their owne tongue the Pope giuing assent and approuing that they did And the same Cromerus sayth the seruice was in the Slauon tongue in Croconia That the Morauians had the seruice in their owne tongue wee haue proofe sufficient for Iohn the eight tooke precise order and commanded it should be soe His Epistle written to the Prince of Morauia is extant in which epistle he hath these words Whereas one Constantine a Philosopher found out letters and characters of the Slauon tongue that so in it they might sound forth the praises that are due to God wee exceedingly commend the same and do commaund that the praises of Christ our God and his workes be vttered and set forth in the same for wee are admonished to praise God not in three tongues only but in all by the sacred authority that commanded saying Praise the Lord all yee Gentiles and praise him together all people Psalme 117. And the Apostles being filled with the holy Ghost spake in all tongues and vttered the great and wonderfull workes of God Act 2. Hence also Paul that heauenly trumpet soundeth forth and exhorteth every tongue to confesse that our Lord Iesus Christ is in the glory
songs concerning the creation of the world and the beginning of mankinde the whole historie of Genesis Israels going out of Aegypt and entring into the land of promise and sundry other histories of holy Scripture of the incarnation passion resurrection and ascension of Christ into heaven of the comming of the holy Ghost the doctrine of the Apostles the terrour of the future iudgement the feare of hell punishment and the happinesse of the kingdome of heauen and sundry other benefits and iudgments of God In all which hee sought to draw men from delighting in things that are euill to the loue and practise of that which is good Which poems no doubt were written if they knew how to write at that time Thus were they willing in those dayes to take all occasion to make the Scripture knowen to the people as farre forth as possibly they might And therefore it is not to bee doubted but that when they had the Scripture onely in Latine yet it was interpreted to the people that they might vnderstand it according to that of Iohn Billet in summâ de diuinis officijs In the primitiue Church no man was permitted to speake in a tongue not vnderstood vnlesse there were one to interpret for to what purpose were it for a man to speake not to be vnderstood truely to none at all Hence grew that laudable custome in some parts of the Church that so soone as the gospell should bee read in the Latine it should presently be expounded to the people in the vulgar And this which hee sayth is confirmed by the authoritie and testimony of Epiphanius who describing all the severall orders in the Church amongst others hee reckoneth them that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Interpreters that expressed in one tongue that which was vttered in another aswell when the lessons were read as when the preacher spake to the people By all that which hath beene said it appeareth that the desire of Gods Church was ever to communicate the Scriptures and bookes of God to all people in the tongue they vnderstood That the most part of the Christian Churches had the booke of God in their owne tongue And that if any had not it was either because they could not tell how to write any thing in their barbarous tongues or because the tongue wherein they first receiued them altering they were not vnderstood then as formerly they had been of their ancestours to whom they were first deliuered in the same So in Italy France Spaine aunciently they generally vnderstood and spake Latine and therefore had the Scriptures deliuered vnto them in that tongue but in time the Latine which they spake was so corrupted and so degenerated into barbarisme that the people of those parts vnderstood very little of that which was written in the purer Latine formerly vnderstood and therefore in processe of time they were forced to haue the Scriptures newly translated into this new dialect or rather corruption of the Latine So had they the Bible translated into Italian French and Spanish as before I shewed Their prayers and liturgies indeede were not altered yet was there never any iudicious man that thought it fittest to haue the service of God performed without vnderstanding but all the best most pious in every age thought it necessary by all good and possible meanes to prouide that the people might haue their seruice of God in a tongue they vnderstood Wee haue heard already Iohn Billet peremptorily affirming that in the primitiue Church no man was permitted to speake in a tongue not vnderstood vnlesse there were one to interpret and that it was the custome of some Churches so soone as the gospell was read in the Latine to expound the same in the vulgar tongue but saith he What shall wee say of our times wherein scarce or not at all either he that readeth or heareth vnderstandeth what hee heareth or readeth So that wee may say truely as the Prophet sometime complayned The priest shall bee as one of the people Videtur ergo tacendum potius esse quam psallendum it seemeth therefore it were better to keepe silence then to sing Haymo a worthy and learned Bishop writing vpon the 1 Epist. to the Cor. hath these wordes If hee that vnderstandeth onely that tongue wherein he was borne and bred stand by thee when thou solemnly celebratest the mysterie of the masse or makest a sermon or powrest forth the wordes of blessing how shall hee answere amen to thy blessing not knowing what thou sayest that is how shall he answere that confirmatory word amen when he vnderstanding onely his owne tongue knoweth not what thou sayest in that barbarous tongue And least any man should take advantage and vrge as the Papists are wont to doe that because he speaketh of a barbarous tongue his words are not to bee vnderstood of him that speaketh in one of the three learned tongues hee sheweth that he that speaketh in the Hebrew tongue to him that vnderstandeth nothing but Greeke or in the Greeke to him that vnderstandeth nothing but Latine or in Latine to him that vnderstandeth nothing but Greeke is a barbarian Yea if a Roman and such a one as is not a Grecian pronounce the symbol or creed in Greeke hee is a barbarian to him that vnderstandeth nothing but Latine though hee bee of the same nation and people Thomas Aquinas mentioneth this but giueth another interpretation of the word but not so fit making them to bee barbarians that excell in strength of body but are defectiue in strength of reason which how farre wide it is from the scope of the Apostle a blinde man may see But in the same place proposing the question how hee that vnderstandeth no other tongue but that of the country wherein he was borne can conforme himselfe and say amen to the prayers he vnderstandeth not his answere is that hee may comforme himselfe in a generality but not in particular seeing hee knoweth not in particular what it is that the minister sayeth though in generall hee know that hee prayeth or blesseth And farther asking why the prayers and blessings are not in the vulgar that more fully particularly the ignorant might conforme themselues vnto the same his answere is that happily it was so in the primitiue Church but now that the faithfull are instructed and knowe what it is they heare in the service of the Church the blessings are in Latin How weake an answere this is to proceed from such a man who seeth not for when hee sayth they know what they heare either hee meaneth in particular and then hee contrarieth his former wordes or onely in generall and then they can giue no consent but in generall and so the question is not answered why the prayers and blessings are not in the vulgar that so being distinctly vnderstood there might bee a distinct conforming to the same Lyra writing vpon the same place hath these
into the knowledge of all truth without any mixture of ignorance errour or danger of being deceiued Let vs come therefore to the second acception of the name of the Church as it comprehendeth onely all those beleeuers that are and haue beene since the Apostles time The whole Church taken in this sort may bee ignorant in sundry things which though they bee contained within the compasse of revealed truth yet are not of necessitie to be expressely knowne by all that will be saued but that the whole Church in this sort conceiued should erre in any thing of this nature it is impossible seeing errour which is an aberration declining or swaruing from the truth once deliuered necessarily implyeth a kinde of particularity and novelty Neither onely is the whole Church comprehending all the beleeuers that are and haue beene since the Apostles time freed from errour in matter of faith But wee thinke it impossible also that any errour whatsoeuer should be found in all the Pastors and guides of the Church thus generally taken Secondly though there may be some question whether any errour may be found in all them whose writings now remaine yet because they haue all written of nothing but that which is absolutely necessary to bee knowne for the attayning of euerlasting saluation and that was euer generally receiued it is not possible they should all be convinced of errour Thirdly though all whose writings remaine haue not written of a thing yet if all that mention it doe constantly consent in it and their consent be strengthened by vniuersall practise wee dare not charge them with errour Yea though their consent be not strengthened by such practise if it be concerning things expressed in the Word of trueth or by necessary and evident deduction to be demonstrated from thence we thinke no errour can be found in all them that speake of things of that nature if in euery age of the Church some be found to haue written of them But in things that cannot be clearely deduced from the rule of faith and word of diuine and heauenly trueth wee thinke it possible that all that haue written of such things might erre and be deceiued This matter is excellently handled by Pererius Augustinus Eugubinus Cornelius Iansenius Hieronymus ab Oleastro who hold it probable that Paradise doth not remaine in originall beauty notwithstanding the consent of all the auncient that haue written of that matter to the contrary Soe likewise Caietaine and Andradius professe they dare goe against the torrent of all the Doctours and dissent from them in the interpretation of some parts of Scripture Bellarmine blameth Pererius Eugubinus and the rest for that they durst imbrace an opinion contrary to the iudgment of antiquity yet doth hee not fasten vpon them any note of heresie or sauouring of heresie Touching the Church as it coÌ„prehendeth only the belieuers that now are presently liue in the world it is most certaine agreed vpon that in things necessary to be known belieued expressely and distinctly it neuer is ignorant much lesse doth erre Yea in things that are not absolutely necessary to be knowen belieued expressely distinctly we coÌ„stantly belieue that this Church can neuer erre nor doubt pertinaciously but that there shall euer be some found ready to imbrace the truth if it be manifested vnto them and such as shall not wholly neglect the search and inquiry after it as times and meanes giue leaue As therefore wee hold it impossible the Church should euer by Apostasie and missebeliefe wholly depart from God in prouing whereof Bellarmine confesseth his fellowes haue taken much needlesse paines seeing no man of our profession thinketh any such thing so we hold that it neuer falleth into any heresie so that he is as much to be blamed for idle needeles busying himselfe in prouing that the visible Church never falleth into heresie which we most willingly grant CHAP 3. Of the meaning of certaine speeches of Caluine touching the erring of the Church THat which he alleageth out of Caluine and others as if they supposed the true Church to be sometimes altogether inuisible and that the outward profession of the trueth doth sometimes wholly faile is to no purpose for they meane not that it is wholly inuisible at any time but that it is not alwayes to be esteemed by outward appearance that sometimes the state of things is such that the greatest in place of Ministery in the Church peruert all things that they that defend the truth make theÌ„selues a reproach To this purpose Occam hath diuerse excellent things out of Hierome and Vincentius Lirinensis sheweth that the poisoned doctrine of the Arians did infect not onely a part but almost the whole Church soe that almost all the Bishops of the Latine Church were misseled and fewe found to defend and maintaine the truth as beseemed them There are therefore foure things which Caluin sayth The first that the Church may not so farre presume of the assistance of the spirit of truth as that she may deuise newe articles of faith and without the certaine direction of the word of God proceede in the determination of doubts in matters of religion The second that she must not relie vpon traditions a pretended vnwritten word but must coÌ„tain her selfe within the compasse of that heauenly doctrine which is comprehended in the scripture The 3d that so containing her selfe she connot erre The 4th that we haue no assurance that Church shall alwaies so precisely follow the directions of the word of truth as that she shall neuer erre but soe farrefoorth only that she shall euer be free from all errour in things necessary to saluation and such things that men cannot be ignorant of to erre in without pertinacy or ouer-grosse and damnable negligence yea that shee is secured from erring in any thing with hereticall pertinacy This last part of Calvins speach it is that the Iesuite disliketh that he sayth The Church is not absolutely freed from errour but from some kinde of errour onely Yet Melchior Canus confesseth that sundry great Diuines seeme to be of this opinion as the Authour of the Interlineall glosse Thomas Aquinas Cardinall Turricremata and Alfonsus á Castro Yea Picus Mirandâ—…la in his theoremes is of the same opinion confirming it by the authority of Aquinas who thinketh that the Church may erre in Canonizing of Saints and proposing such to be honoured whom God rejecteth from his presence as vessels of his wrath Notwithstanding the Romanists at this day seeme to hold that the whole Church that presently is in the world cannot erre in any thing that either concerneth faith or manners which they endevour to proue by these reasons CHAP. 4. Of their reasons who thinke the present Church free from all errour in matters of faith FIrst for that it is the pillar and ground of trueth secondly for that it is guided by Christ her
mâ—…ch with many declamations against priuate interpretations and interpretations of private spirits and make the world beleeue that wee follow no other rule of interpretation but each mans private fancie For answere herevnto we say with Stapleton that interpretations of Scripture may be sayd to be private and the spirits whence they proceede named priuate either Ratione personae modi or finis That is in respect of the person who interpreteth the manner of his proceeding in interpreting or the end of his interpretation A priuate interpretation proceeding from a priuate spirit in the first sense is euery interpretation deliuered by men of priuate condition In the second sense is that which men of what condition soeuer deliuer contemning and neglecting those publike meanes which are knowen to all and are to be vsed by all that desire to finde the trueth In the third sense that which proceeding from men of priuate condition is not so proposed and vrged by them as if they would binde all other to receiue and imbrace it but is intended onely to their owne satisfaction The first kind of interpretation proceeding from a private spirit is not to be disliked if the parties so interpreting neither neglect the common rules meanes of attayning the right sense of that they interpret contemne the judgement of other men nor presumptuously take vpon them to teach others and enforce them to beleeue that which they apprehend for trueth without any authority so to doe But priuate spirits in the second sense that is men of such dispositions as will follow their owne fancies and neglect the common rules of direction as Enthusiasts and trust to their owne sense without conference and due respect to other mens judgements wee accurse This is all we say touching this matter wherein I would faine know what our aduersaries dislike Surely nothing at all as it will appeare to euery one that shall but looke into the place aboue alledged out of Stapleton But say they there must bee some authenticall interpretation of Scripture which euery one must bee bound to stand vnto or else there will be no end of quarrels and contentions The interpretation of Scripture is nothing else but the explication and clearing of the meaning of it This is either true or false The true interpretation of the Scripture is of two sorts For there is an interpretation which deliuereth that which is true and contayned in the Scripture or from thence to bee concluded though not meant in that place which is expounded This is not absolutely and perfectly a true interpretation because though it truely deliuereth such doctrine as is contayned in the Scripture and nothing contrarie to the place interpreted yet it doth not expresse that that is particularly meant in the place expounded There is therefore another kind of true interpretations when not onely that is deliuered which is contayned in the Scripture but that which is meant in the particular places expounded Likewise false interpretations are of two sorts some deliuering that which is vtterly false and contrary to the Scripture some others onely fayling in this that they attaine not the true sense of the particular places expounded An example of the former is that interpretation of that place of Genesis The sonnes of God saw the daughters of men c. which some of the Fathers haue deliuered vnderstanding by the sonnes of God the Angels of Heauen whose fall they suppose proceeded from the loue of women Which errour they confirme by that of the Apostle that women must come vayled into the Church for the Angels that is as they interpret least the Angels should fall in loue with them A false interpretation of the later kind Andradius sheweth some thinke that exposition of the wordes of the Prophet Esaie Quis enarrabit generationem eius Who shall declare his generation deliuered by many of the Fathers vnderstanding thereby the eternall generation of the son of God which no man shall declare Whereas by the name of generation the Prophet meaneth that multitude that shall beleeue in Christ which shall be so great as cannot be expressed An authenticall interpretation is that which is not only true but so clearely and in such sort that euery one is bound to imbrace and to receiue it As before we made 3 kinds of judgment the one of discretion common to all the other of direction common to the Pastors of the Church and a third of jurisdiction proper to them that haue supreame power in the Church so likewise wee make three kindes of interpretation the first private and so euery one may interpret the Scripture that is privately with himselfe conceiue or deliuer to other what hee thinketh the meaning of it to bee the second of publike direction and so the Pastors of the Church may publikely propose what they conceiue of it and the third of jurisdiction and so they that haue supreme power that is the Bishops assembled in a generall Councell may interpret the Scripture and by their authority suppresse all them that shall gainesay such interpretations and subject euery man that shall disobey such determinations as they consent vpon to excommunication and censures of like nature But for authenticall interpretation of Scriptures which every mans conscience is bound to yeeld vnto it is of an higher nature neither doe wee thinke any of these to be such as proceeding from any of those before named specified to whom wee graunt a power of interpretation Touching the interpretations which the Fathers haue deliuered we receiue them as vndoubtedly true in the generall doctrine they consent in and so farre forth esteeme them as authenticall yet doe wee thinke that holding the faith of the Fathers it is lawfull to dissent from that interpretation of some particular places which the greater part of them haue deliuered or perhaps all that haue written of them and to find out some other not mentioned by any of the Auncient CHAP. 17. Of the interpretation of the Fathers and how farre wee are bound to admit it THe Fathers sayth Andradius especially they of the Greeke Church being ignorant of the Hebrew tongue following Origen did rather striue with all their wit and learning to devise Allegories and to frame the manners of men then to cleare the hard places of the law and the Prophets Nay euen Hierome himselfe who more diligently then any of the rest sought out the meaning and sense of the Propheticall and diuine Oracles yet often to avoyde the obscurities of their words betaketh himselfe to Allegories In this sense it is that Cardinall Caietan saith hee will not feare to goe against the torrent of all the Doctors for which saying Andradius sheweth that Canus and others doe vnjustly blame him For though wee may not goe from the faith of the Fathers nor from the maine trueth of doctrine which they deliuer in different interpretations yet may wee interpret some parts of the Scripture otherwise then any
Sauiour Christ which though they were neuer written by the Evangelists the Apostles and others conversant with him in the dayes of his flesh knew and faithfully preserued and kept as Mary did all things which she heard him speake and saw him doe of which sort was that alleadged by the Apostle It is more blessed to giue then to receiue wee make no question but that there are any of those vnwritten speeches or Actions necessary to bee knowne for our salvation or containing any other matter of diuine knowledge then is written or that are certainely knowne vnto the Church now we vtterly deny All the historicall things saith Bishop Lindan which are reported concerning Christ not contained in Scripture are fabulous or vncertaine Which doubtlesse was the reason why more errours were found in the writings of the first Fathers of the Primitiue Church then in those that were further remoued from those first beginnings because they were abused by the false and vncertaine reports of traditions which in those times men greedily hearkened after as liuing with thē which had beene conversant with the Apostles or their Schollers as wee shall finde by that is reported of Papias and it appeareth by the writings of others Thus hauing made it cleare and evident that it is not safe to relye vpon traditions in things concerning the faith let vs come to those traditions which concerne the manners and conversation of men That the Apostles deliuered many things of this nature to the Churches some by way of precept some by way of Councell and advice onely some to particular Churches and some to all some to continue but for a time and some to continue for euer we make no doubt Of this sort is the observation of the Lords day the precept whereof is not found in Scripture though the practice be and so may be named a tradition And sundry other things there are which doubtlesse the Apostles deliuered by tradition but they are confounded with Ecclesiasticall traditions as Waldensis aptly noteth that wee might the more reuerence the constitutions of the Church and are dispensable by the guides of the Church because the Apostles and Apostolike men that deliuered them did not deliuer them as reporting the immediate precepts of Christ himselfe but by vertue of their Pastorall power and office and so it little concerneth vs exactly to know whether they were deliuered by the Apostles themselues or their next after-commers For if they were deliuered by the Apostles yet are they dispensable by the authority of the Church and if not by them but by others they may not be dispensed with nor altered but by the same authority CHAP. 21. Of the rules whereby true Traditions may be knowen from counterfaite THus hauing set downe the kindes and sorts of traditions it remaineth to examine by what meanes wee may come to discerne and by what rules wee may judge which are true and indubitate traditions The first rule is deliuered by Augustine Quod vniuersa tenet ecclesia nec conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi auctoritate Apostolicâ traditum rectissimè creditur Whatsoeuer the whole Church holdeth not being decreed by the authority of Councelles but hauing been euer holden may rightly be thought to haue proceeded from Apostolike authority The second rule is whatsoeuer all or the most famous and renowmed in all ages or at the least in diuerse ages haue constantly deliuered as receiued from them that went before them no man contradicting or doubting of it may bee thought to be an Apostolicall tradition The third rule is the constant Testimony of the Pastors of an Apostolike Church successiuely deliuered to which some adde the present testimony of any Apostolike Church whose declinings when they beganne we cannot precisely tell But none of the Fathers admitte this rule For when they vrge the authority and testimony of Apostolike Churches for the proofe or reproofe of true or pretended traditions they stand vpon the consenting voyce or silence of the Pastors of such Churches successiuely in diverse ages concerning such things Some adde the testimony of the present Church but we enquire after the rule whereby the present Church may know true traditions from false and besides though the whole multitude of beleeuers at one time in the world cannot erre pertinaciously and damnably in embracing false traditions in stead of true yet they that most sway things in the Church may yea euen the greater part of a generall councell so that this can be no sure rule for men to iudge of traditions by And therefore Canus reasoneth foolishly that whatsoeuer the Church of Rome practiceth which shee may not doe without speciall warrant from God and yet hath no warrant in Scripture so to doe the same things and the practise of them shee hath receiued by tradition Hee giueth example in the present practice of the Romish Church in dispensing with remitting vowes and oathes and in dissoluing marriages not consummate by carnall knowledge by admitting men into orders of Religion But this practice of the Romish Church wee condemne as wicked and Antichristian CHAP. 22. Of the difference of bookes Canonicall and Apocriphall THus hauing answered our aduersaries obiections touching the obscuritie and imperfections of the scripture which wee affirme to be the rule of our faith it remayneth that in particular wee consider which are the bookes of this Scripture contayning the rule of our faith and where the indubitate and certaine verity of them is to be found whether in the originals or in the Translations The bookes which Moses the Prophets and Apostles deliuered to the world containe the Canon that is the rule of piety faith and religion which the sonnes of men receiued by Reuelation from heauen and therefore are rightly named Canonicall The matter of these bookes wee beleeue to haue beene inspired from the holy Ghost for our instruction whose authoritie is so great that no man may doubt of them The writers of these bookes were in such sort guided and directed by the spirit of trueth in composing of them that not to beleeue them were impious Wherevpon Augustine writing to Hierome saith Ego solis eis scriptoribus qui Canonici appellantur didici hunc timorem honoremque deferre vt nullum eorum scribendo errasse firmissimè teneam at si quod in iis invenero quod videatur contrarium veritati nihil aliud existimem quà m mendosum esse codicem vel non esse assecutum interpretem quod dictum est vel me minimè intellexisse non ambigam alios autem ita lego vt quantalibet sanctitate doctrinâve polleant non ideo verum putem quia ita senserunt sed quia mihi per illos auctores canonicos vel probabiles rationes quod à vero non abhorreat persuadere potuerunt That is I haue learned to yeelde that reuerence and honour to those writers onely that are called Canonicall to thinke that
none of them could erre in writing but if in them I find any thing that may seeme contrary to the trueth I perswade my selfe that either the Copie is corrupt or the interpreter defectiue and faultie or that the fault is in my not vnderstanding of it but other authors I so read that how great soeuer their learning sanctitie bee I doe not therefore thinke any thing to bee true because they haue so thought but because they perswade me that it is true by the authority of the Canonicall authors or the probability of Reason Besides the indubitate writings of those Canonicall Authours there are other bookes written of the same argument which because the credite and authority of the authors of them is not knowen are named Apocryphall Bookes are named Apocryphall first because the authour of them is not knowen and in this sense some of the Bookes of Canonicall Scripture as the bookes of Chronicles of Hester and a great part of the Psalmes may be named Apocryphall though vnproperly and vnfitly The authority of the authors of them not being doubted of though their names and other personall conditions be not knowen And therefore Andradius reprehendeth the Glosse which defineth those things to be Apocryphall quae incerto authore prodita sunt the author and publisher whereof is not knowen Secondly bookes are therefore named Apocryphall because the authority and credite of them is called in question it being doubted whether they proceeded from the inspiration of the holy spirit so that they cannot serue for the confirmation of any thing that is called in question In this seuse Hierome calleth the bookes of the Macchabees and the rest of that kinde Apocryphall though they were read privately and publikely for the edification of the people and the information of manners Thirdly such bookes are named Apocryphall as are meerely fabulous and full of impiety and therefore interdicted and forbidden to bee read or regarded at all The auncientest of the Fathers name these onely Apocryphall and so doth Hierome sometimes calling those of the second ranke Hagiographall though this name be sometimes giuen to those Canonicall bookes which pertaine not to the Lawe nor the Prophets as the booke of Iob the Psalmes the bookes of Salomon Esdras the Chronicles c. so diuiding the whole Canon of the Scripture of the old Testament into the Law the Prophets and the Hagiographall bookes that is those which not hauing any proper name of difference retaine and are knowen by the common name of holy writ CHAP. 23. Of the Canonicall and Apocryphall bookes of Scripture THe bookes of the old Testament were committed to the Church of the Iewes wherevpon that is one of the things in respect whereof the Apostle preferreth them before the Gentiles that to them were committed the Oracles of God This Church of the Iewes admitted but onely 22 bookes as deliuered vnto them from God to bee the Canon of their faith according to the nūber of the letters of their Alphabet as Iosephus sheweth For though they sometimes reckon foure and twenty and somtimes seuen and twenty yet they adde no more in one of these accounts than in the other For repeating Iod thrice for honour of the Name of GOD and so the number of the letters rising to foure and twenty they number the bookes of Canonicall Scripture to be foure and twenty dividing the booke of Ruth from the Iudges and the Lamentations from the Prophecies of Ieremy and reckoning them by themselues which in the former account they joyned with them These bookes thus numbred Hierome fitly compareth to the foure and twenty Elders mentioned in the Revelation Qui adorabant prostratis vultibus offerebant coronas suas Which prostrating themselues adored and worshipped the Lambe acknowledging that they receiued their Crownes of him Stantibus coram quatuor animalibus oculatis antè retrò in praeteritum futurum respicientibus Those foure admirable liuing creatures hauing eyes before and behind looking to things past and to come standing before him And because fiue of the Hebrew letters are double they sometimes reckon the bookes of the holy Canon so as that they make them rise to the number of seuen and twenty reckoning the first and second of Samuel of Kings of Chronicles and of Esdras by themselues seuerally which in the first accompt were numbred together two of euery of these being accompted but as one booke and dividing Ruth from the Iudges These onely did the auncient Church of the Iewes receiue as Divine and Canonicall That other bookes were added vnto these whose authority not being certain and knowne are named Apocryphall fell out on this sort The Iewes in their latter times before and at the comming of Christ were of two sorts some properly and for distinctions sake named Hebrewes commorant at Hierusalem and in the holy Land others named Helenists that is Iewes of the dispersion mingled with the Grecians These had written sundry bookes in Greeke which they made vse of together with other parts of the Old Testament which they had of the Translation of the Septuagint but the Hebrewes receiued onely the two and twenty bookes before mentioned Hence it came that the Iewes deliuered a double Canon of the Scripture to the Christian Churches the one pure indubitate and divine which is the Hebrew Canon the other in Greeke enriched with or rather adulterated by the addition of certain bookes written in those times when God raised vp no more Prophets among his people This volume thus mixed of diuers sorts of bookes the Christians receiued of the Iewes These bookes joyned in one volume were translated out of Greeke into Latine and read by them of the Latine Church in that Translation for there was no Catholique Christian that euer translated the Scriptures of the old Testament out of Hebrew into Latine before Hieromes time nor none after him till our age Hence it came that the Fathers of the Greeke Church hauing Origen and sundry other learned in the Hebrew tongue and making search into the antiquities and originals of the Iewes receiued as Canonicall onely the two and twenty bookes written in the Hebrew and did account all those books which were added in the Greeke to bee Apocryphall The Latines receiuing them both in one Translation and bound vp in one volume vsed sundry parts of the Apocryphall bookes in their prayers and readings together with the other and cited them in their writings yet did none of them make any Catalogue of Canonicall and Apocryphall bookes and number them amongst the Canonicall before the third Councell of Carthage wherein Augustine was present at which time also Innocentius liued which Fathers seeme to adde to the Canon diuers bookes which the Hebrewes receiue not Hierome translating the Scriptures out of the Hebrew and most exactly learning what was the Hebrew Canon rejected all besides the two and twenty Hebrew bookes as the Grecians did before
of God beene long abused and the Church in greevous errour And elswhere againe he sayth the Church hath not certainely resolued that it is Canonicall and that it yeeldeth no certaine cleare and indubitate proofe in matters of faith Driedo denyeth it to be canonicall saith Cyprian Ambrose and others of the Fathers cited the Booke of Baruch as also the third and fourth of Esdras not as Canonicall but as containing matter of good instruction not contrary but consonant to the faith The additions of the booke of Hester Sixtus absolutely rejecteth as vaine and foolish contrary to the judgements of the Papists yet admitteth the additions to Daniel These also Driedo rejecteth notwithstanding the decree of the Tridentine Councell as the author of the booke De mirabilibus Scripturae did long before calling the story of Bell and the Dragon a fable Melchior Canus professeth he dareth not pronounce it hereticall to deny any or all of the controversed bookes of the Old Testament and yet confidently pronounceth it hereticall to deny any of the bookes of the New Testament which were sometimes doubted of so that it seemeth a man may dissent from a generall Councell and not be an Hereticke and that the Councell of Trent proceeded not vpon so good grounds of reason in approouing the one as the other contrary to their judgment who say we may as well doubt of the Bookes of the New Testament whereof some doubted in former times as of these of the Olde But it is easie to shew their errour who so thinke and to confirme the opinion of Canus that there is not so great reason why we should doubt of the one as the other For first the Bookes of the New Testament were neuer doubted of but by some few in comparison of them that receiued and approued them the most and most renowned for piety learning and right judgement euer receiuing them For to begin with those of which there hath beene most doubt The Epistle to the Hebrewes and the booke of the Revelation of S Iohn Hierome witnesseth that they neuer wanted the approbation of the worthiest and greatest parts of Gods Church Illud sayth he nostris dicendum est hanc epistolam quae inscribitur ad Hebraeos non solum ab Ecclesiis Orientis sed ab omnibus retrò Ecclesiasticis scriptoribus quasi Pauli Epistolam suscipi licèt eam plerique vel Barnabae vel Clementis arbitrentur esse c. Let our men know that the Epistle to the Hebrewes is not onely receiued and approued by all the Churches of the East that now presently are but by all Ecclesiasticall writers of the Greeke Churches that haue beene heretofore as the Epistle of Paul though many thinke it rather to haue beene written by Barnabas or Clemens and that it skilleth not who wrote it seeing it was written by an Authour approued in the Church ofGod and is dayly read in the same If the custome of the Latines receiue it not among the Canonicall Scriptures no more doe the Greeke Churches admit the Revelation of Saint Iohn and yet we following the authority of the Auncient receiue them both Secondly the Churches of the Gentiles to which the Bookes of the New Testament were deliuered were in parts of the world farre remote one from another and did not immediatly all of them receiue all the parts of these diuine bookes from the Authors of them but from those particular Churches to which they were specially directed or in the middest whereof the writers of them remained at the time of the writing of them And therefore it is not to bee marvailed at if being deliuered and transmitted from one to another some receiued them sooner and some later But the Bookes of the Olde Testament were deliuered to one nationall Church only and yet these now controversed were neuer receiued by it Thirdly these Bookes of the New Testament whereof some informer times did doubt were written in the Apostles times whom GOD honoured with the first immediate and vndoubted revelation of Divine trueth these after the succession of the Prophets were ceased Fourthly the bookes of the Olde Testament now controversed were not written in the Hebrew but in Greeke by such of the Iewes as were of the dispersion and therefore neuer receiued by the Hebrewes nor counted amongst the sacred Bookes of the Canon which they diuided into the Law the Prophets and the Psalmes to which Christ giueth testimony in the Gospell Lastly the reason mouing some to doubt of the bookes of the new Testament was the vncertainty of the names of the authors or something mistaken misconstrued or not understood in the bookes which in time was cleared and they afterward generally receiued But the Apochryphall bookes of the old Testament were rejected as being written when there was no more vndoubted succession of Prophets by the whole Church of the Hebrewes and euer after by the best and worthiest guides of the Christian Churches That the bookes of the newe Testament called in question by some were doubted of vpon such weake reasons as hath beene sayd will easily appeare The Epistle to the Hebrewes was therefore doubted of by some because the difference and diuersity of the style made them thinke it not to be Pauls whose name it carried and by others because the author of it seemed to them to fauour the errour of the Nouatians in denying the reconciliation of such as fall after baptisme The second Epistle of Peter some doubted of because of the diuersity of the style which Hierome rejecteth The Epistle of Iames because of the vncertainty of the author it being doubtfull which Iames was the author of it The Epistle of Iude because the author of it alleageth the authoritie of an Apochryphall booke of Enoch as they imagined The second and third of Iohn because they are sayd to haue beene written by Iohn the elder some denyed to bee the Epistles of Iohn the Apostle ascribing them to another Iohn The Reuelation was doubted of first because of the doubtfullnesse of the Title of Iohn the Diuine secondly because of the difficultie and obscuritie of the words of this Prophecie or Reuelation and lastly because the author of this booke seemeth to fauour the heresie of the Millenaries But the Latine Church receiued this booke as Canonicall as also the best and most learned of the Greekes as Dionysius Alexandrinus though hee deny it to haue beene written by Iohn the Euangelist Epiphanius condemneth the Alogi as heretickes because they denie the Gospell and Reuelation of Saint Iohn Tertullian reckoneth it among the errours of Cerdon that hee rejected the bookes of the Actes and the Reuelation and writing against Marcion hee sheweth that hee also did denie the same booke Irenaeus sayth this Reuelation was manifested vnto Iohn and seene of him but a little before his time Iustinus Martyr doth attribute this booke to Iohn and doth account it a
Diuine Reuelation Origen in his Preface before the Gospell of Iohn sayth that Iohn the sonne of Zebedee saw in the Reuelation an Angell flying thorow the middest of heauen hauing the eternall Gospell The Councell of Ancyra pronounceth it to bee sacred and that Iohn was the author of it Thus then I hope it doth appeare that there is not so much reason to doubt of the bookes of the newe Testament called sometimes in question as of those of the old seeing the former were neuer doubted of but by some fewe vpon reasons friuolous the weakenesse whereof being discouered all Catholike Christians with one consent receiued them accounting them no better than Heretickes which either doubted of them or denied them whereas the later were rejected by the whole Church of the Iewes by all antiquity and the whole current of Gods Church some fewe onely excepted being ignorant of the tongues and not exactly looking into the monuments of antiquity and diuided amongst themselues some admitting more and some not all those which our aduersaries now receiue Wherefore as wee cannot but condemne the inconsiderate rashnesse of such either of the Romish or reformed Churches as in our time make question of any of the bookes of the newe Testament that are and haue beene long read in the Churches of GOD as Canonicall throughout the whole world so likewise wee thinke their boldnesse inexcusable who in these last ages make those bookes Canonicall which neuer were so esteemed by Gods Church before and goe about to binde all mens consciences soe to receiue them against the current of antiquity and the iudgement of the best learned in euery age euen to our times CHAP 25. Of the diuers editions of the Scripture and in what tongue it was originally written THus hauing shewed that the Scripture containeth a perfect rule of our faith and hauing likewise made it appeare what bookes they are which are canonicall and containe this rule of our Christian faith and Religion it remaineth that wee search out what editions there are of these Scriptures and which are authenticall and of indubitate authority and credit The whole Scripture of the old Testament was written in Hebrewe saue that some fewe things were translated into the bookes of Esdras and Daniel out of the publike recordes and monuments of the Chaldees in that tongue as the copies of letters and publike actes and proceedings all things which the spirit of God did absolutely deliuer being expressed vnto vs in the same bookes in Hebrewe The opinion of some hath beene that the whole Scripture of the old Testament perished and was lost in the time of the captiuity of Babylon and that it was newly composed by Esdras To which purpose they alleage the authority of Basil who seemeth to say some such thing and likewise the testimony of the author of the fourth booke of Esdras where it is sayd that the bookes of the lawe being burnt God sent the holy Ghost into Esdras separated him from the people for the space of fortie daies caused him to prouide boxe tables and men writing swiftly and that in forty dayes they wrote twoe hundred and foure bookes but this booke being Apochryphall full of Cabalisticall vanity doth rather weaken then strengthen this opinion That which is alledged out of the second of Esdras and the eight doth not proue that Esdras did newely compose the bookes of Scripture but only that he brought them forth which implyeth that they were not vtterly lost nor did wholly perish Neither indeed is it likely though that Scripture which was kept in the Temple was burnt that Ezechiell Daniell Ieremie Haggai Zacharie Mardocheus and Esdras himselfe were so negligent as not to preserue the bookes of the Scripture So that all that Esdras did was nothing else but the bringing together and putting into order the scattered partes of this scripture and the correcting of such faults as in time by the negligence of the writers were crept into the seuerall Copies of it This point is handled at large by Bellarmine and excellently cleared by him and therefore it is needlesse to insist vpon it longer So then the same scripture which Moses and the Prophets deliuered Esdras sought out and religiously commended vnto the people Onely Hierome is of opinion that hee found out newe Hebrewe letters and left the old to the Samaritans which Bellarmine out of Hierome confirmeth because the last letter of the Hebrewe Alphabet was like the Greeke T and had a similitude of the Crosse as that of the Samaritanes now hath but that now hath no similitude with it Picus Mirandula professeth that hauing conferred with sundry Iewes about this matter they all constantly denyed this alteration of letters And to what purpose should Esdras alter the forme of letters which MOSES and the Prophets had vsed Neither doth Hierome in the place cited by Bellarmine speake of the Greeke T but sayth onely that the last of the auncient Hebrew letters had a similitude of the Crosse as now that of the Samaritans hath But this being a matter of no great moment let euery man judge as he thinketh best This then we constantly hold that as the whole Scripture of the Olde Testament was written in Hebrew so the same neuer perished wholly in any of the captiuities of the Iewes but was religiously preserued euen the same which Moses and the Prophets deliuered to the people of God After the returne of the people from Babylon their tongue language was mixed of the Hebrew Chaldee and named the Syriacke tongue from the Region or Countrey vvhere it was vsed in which Christ made all his Sermons to the people as being best vnderstood of them Yet were not the bookes of the New Testament written in this Language but in Greeke because they were to be made common to the Churches of the Gentiles among which the Greeke tongue was most generally vnderstood There are three tongues most famous in the world as Hugo de Sancto Victore noteth the Latine Greeke and Hebrew propter regnum sapientiam legem the first because of the Monarchy of the Romanes who as they subjected the people which they did conquere to their lawes customes so they did force them to learne their language the second because in it the great Philosophers and Wise men of the world left the monuments of their wisedome learning to posterities the third because in it God deliuered his Law the interpretation of it by Moses and the Prophets to the people of Israell his chosen Amongst all these the Greeke was most generally vnderstood by the learned of all Nations because in it all the renowned wise men of the world had written all that were studious learned it that they might vnderstand their writings Hence it came that the books of the New testament were written in Greek because God would not honour one Nation of the world more then another nor
force his people to borrow the bookes of Scripture one from another Onely some doubt there is touching the Gospel of Mathew the Epistle to the Hebrewes which are supposed to haue been written in Hebrew and the Gospell of Marke written as some say in Latine That the Gospell of Mathew was written in Hebrew Hierome others affirme Guido Fabritius sayth it was written in Hebrew but in vulgar Hebrew which is the Syriacke that they of Hierusalem did speake which opinion others seeme to incline vnto the Gospell in Hebrew which some bring forth being of no credit The Epistle to the Hebrewes some say was written in Hebrew translated by Luke or Barnab as into Greeke The Syrians say the Gospell of Marke was first written in Latine that afterward hee translated both it and the whole New Testament beside into Syriacke which they say they haue preserued to this day This Syriacke Translation of the New Testament was not knowne in these parts of the world till our age as Fabritius Boderianus noteth who thereupon breaketh out into the praises of our times if the men of this generation either knew the happinesse thereof or how to vse it Howbeit that Marke was Authour of this Syriacke translation which the Syrians in this age haue deliuered vnto vs wee cannot perswade our selues because none of the Fathers that liued in Syria and Egypt as Clemens Alexandrinus Origen Eusebius Athanasius Theophilus Epiphanius Hierome Cyrill Theodoret and Damascen make any mention of it besides it is apparantly defectiue in diuerse things as the learned note So then the indubitate originals of these parts of the New Testament in Hebrew or Syriacke if they were written at first in these tongues being lost and the Church depriued of them the Greeke is holden to bee Originall in respect of all the bookes of the New Testament For that either they were all written in it or translated into it by the Apostles or Apostolike men CHAP. 26. Of the translations of the old Testament out of Hebrew into Greeke THus hauing deliuered in what tongues the Scriptures and bookes of God were written it remayneth that we enquire what the principall translations of them haue beene and whether the indubitate verity of them be in the originals or in the translations There was as some suppose a translation of the old Testament out of Hebrew into Greeke before the time of Alexander the great but the first that was in note and remayned long in esteeme in the world was that of the Septuagint in the time of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus Who intending to furnish a Librarie at Alexandria with all the choisest bookes the world would affoord amongst other places sent to Hierusalem to the rulers guides of the people there who sent vnto him the bookes of Moses and the Prophets written in Hebrewe in letters of gold Which hee not vnderstanding sent the second time for interpreters and they sent vnto him 72 in imitation of Moses who when hee went vp to the Mount to receiue the Law being commaunded to take with him 70 of the Elders of Israell added two to the number prescribed lest taking six out of some Tribes and but fiue out of other some dislike might haue grown amongst them These in 70 dayes translated the whole old Testament out of Hebrew into Greeke For though Iosephus and the Iewes say they translated onely the bookes of Moses yet the consenting voyce of all the Fathers affirming that they translated the whole mooueth vs rather to thinke the whole was translated by them then onely the bookes of Moses vnlesse wee say with Iunius for the reconciling of this difference that onely the bookes of Moses were translated by the first 72. sent to Ptolomee and the rest afterwards by 72 also though not the same That which some report that they were shutte vp in severall celles which long after were to be seene at Alexandria Hierome rejecteth as a fable shewing that no such thing is reported by Aristaeus that was present at the businesse and that no remaynder of any such celles was to bee found at Alexandria but that they met in one place and conferring together euery day till the ninth houre in 70 dayes perfected the whole worke and Augustine leaueth it doubtfull This fable is vrged by some to proue that these translatours were guided by a propheticall spirite and so could not erre which false and absurd conceite Hierome condemneth likewise The second translation of the old Testament out of Hebrew into Greeke was that of Aquila in the time of Adrian the Emperour the 3. of Theodotion in the time of Commodus The fourth of Symachus in the time of Seuerus The fift without name of author was found in the City of Hiericho in the time of Antonius Caracalla The sixt in Nicopolis in the dayes of Alexander the son of Mammca The seaventh of Origen who translated not but corrected the translation of the Septuagint adding some things out of Theodotions translation which additions he noted with the marke of a shining starre detracting other thinges which he pearced through with a spitte The eight of Lucian the Martyr was not a translation but a correction only of such faults as were crept into the translation of the Septuagint This was found at Nicomedia in the time of Constantine Lucian being martyred long before in the dayes of Dioclesian the Emperour The ninth of Hesichius was likewise but a correction of such things as were amisse in the vulgar editions of the Septuagint It appeareth by Hierome in his preface before the bookes of Chronicles that they of Alexandria Egypt vsed that edition of the Septuagint which Hesichius corrected they of Constantinople that of Lucian the Martyr and they of the Prouinces and Countries lying betweene these that which Origen corrected The Greeke translation found to neede correction and corrected by these as it seemeth was called by the name of the common edition not as being a different translation from that of the Septuagint but as being that which was common in all mens hands and much altered and corrupted from the originall purity which these worthy men endeauoured to restore it to againe And was so named because there was another preserued in greater purity in that worthy worke of Origen that filled all the famous libraries in the world in those times in which first diuiding euery page into sixe columnes or pillars in the first he put the Hebrewe in the Hebrewe Characters in the second in Greeke in the third the interpretation of Aquila in the fourth of Symmachus in the fift of the Septuagint in the sixt of Theodotion and named the volumes thus disposed in respect of the foure translations Tetrapla a foure fould worke in respect of these translations and the Hebrewe in two kind of Characters placed in two seuerall pillars or Columnes Hexapla a
short of that the Law requireth but were also contrary vnto it and that Christ taxeth them for the same Quia non intelligebant sayth Saint Augustine homicidium nisi per interemptionem corporis humani per quam vitâ priuaretur aperuit Dominus omnem iniquum motum ad nocendum fratri in homicidij genere deputari vnde Iohannes dicit Qui odit fratrem suum homicida est quoniam putabant tantummodo corporalem cumfoeminâ illicitam commixtionem vocari moechiam demonstrauit Magister etiam talem concupiscentiam nihil esse aliud That is they vnderstood no other Kind of murther but that which is the sundring of soule and body and the taking away of life therefore our Lord shewed that euery vnrighteous motion to hurt our brother is to be accompted murther Whence also S. Iohn sayth He that hateth his brother is a man-slayer and because they thought the vnlawfull conjunction of man and woman only to be adulterie our Maister shewed that euen the desire is no lesse Now I thinke that to say that is not murther nor adultery which Christ pronounceth to be murther and adultery is not onely to teach lesse then is in the Law but to teach contrary to it But to make this point more cleare and euident and that there may bee noe doubt but that their doctrine was contrary to the Law the Scripture reporteth nay our Sauiour Christ telleth vs in the Scripture whose report wee may not doubt of that they taught a man to loue his friend and to hate his enimy whereas by the Law of God we are bound to loue our enemies to blesse them that curse vs to do good to them that hate vs and to pray for them that hurt vs and persecute us It is true indeed that S. Augustine not obseruing this glosse of hating our enemies to bee the lewd tradition of the Pharises but thinking it to be written in the Law doth in one place say that that which is sayd in the Law Thou shalt hate thine enemy is not to be taken as the voyce of him that commandeth and prescribeth what the just should doe but permitteth what the infirmity of the weake requireth and in another place writing against the Manichees sayth that that which is in the old Scripture Hate thine enemie and that which is in the Gospell Loue your enemies do agree together very well For euery vnrighteous man in quantum iniquus est odio habendus est in quantum homo diligendus in that he is vnrighteous is to be hated and in that he is a man is to be loued This saying hee sayth the Pharisees did not rightly vnderstand and that therefore Christ laboured to teach and instruct them better and to let them know that they were so to hate their enemies that they should also loue them This which S. Augustine deliuereth is most Catholike and true For we are to hate the vices and loue the persons of our enimies but neither is there any mandate in the Scriptures that we should hate our enemies neither had that precept of the Pharisees that sense wherein S. Augustine cōceiueth a man may lawfully hate his enemies but as himselfe cōfesseth they thought they were so to hate their enemies that they were not bound to loue thē against which erroneous conceipt Christ opposeth himselfe saying But I say vnto you loue your enemies Neither doth he oppose an Euangelicall coūsell of greater perfection then the Law requireth to that imperfect thing the Law prescribeth as some men haue ignorantly fancied but the true meaning of the Law to the false construction of the same made by the Pharisees as likewise he doth in all other his oppositions to that which had bin sayd to them of old time But let vs let this passe and come to the other errours of the Pharisees taxed by our Sauiour Christ in such sort as no man can excuse them Why doe ye transgresse sayth he the commandement of God by your traditions for God hath commanded saying Honour thy Father and thy Mother and he that curseth Father or Mother let him die the death but ye say Whosoeuer shall say to Father or Mother By the gift that is offered by me thou maist haue profit though he honour not his Father or Mother shall be free Thus haue you made the commandement of God of none effect by your owne tradition Againe they taught that it is nothing if a man sweare by the Altar but that he that sweareth by the gift or offering that is on the Altar is a Debtor that is bound to do that he sweareth Many other like fond wicked glosses of the Pharisees we read of whereby they made the cōmandemēts of God of none effect whereupon our Sauiour sayth Except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnes of the Scribes and Pharisees ye cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen Thus then I hope it appeareth to all that are not wilfully blinded that Christ meant not when hee sayd The Scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses chaire therefore whatsoeuer they bid you that obserue and doe that they could speake nothing but truth and that whatsoeuer they sayd was to be receiued without any examination but that whatsoeuer things they spake pertinentia ad Cathedram as the author of the interlineall Glosse interpreteth the words and whatsoeuer things they deliuered as sitting in Moses chaire that is doing the duty of Teachers they should bee listned vnto howsoeuer otherwise they were wicked and godlesse men They that teach iudge and rule the people of God are described to performe those things sitting to put them in minde that they must doe all things with setled composed and well aduised resolution and not rashly hastily and inconsiderately whereupon Princes haue their thrones Iudges their Tribunalls and iudgment seates and Teachers their chaires Hence Moses office of teaching the people the lawes of God and the performance of the same is metaphorically named Moses chaire and the succeeding of Moses in this office and duty of deliuering the lawes of God to the people the performance of the same is rightly expressed by the sitting on the chaire of Moses in this sense the Scribes Pharisees are rightly sayd to haue sitte on Moses chaire because they succeeded him in the office and duty of teaching the people the lawes of God and in the performance of the same duety in some part though not wholly And therefore our Sauiour Christ requireth all men notwithstanding their wicked conuersation and manifold errours in matters of doctrine to do whatsoeuer they commanded while they sate on Moses chaire that is performed the duty belonging to Moses office and place It is strange that any man should seeke to extend the words of Christ any farther as if they meant to cleare the Scribes Pharisees from all possibilitie and danger of erring in that they possessed the roome of Moses and had the places of Teachers in the
that if the Apostles were equall in the respect they had to the people as gouernours of the same they were so far forth in that respect equall amongst thēselues But they will say perhaps that the Apostles were indeed equall amongst themselues in the power office of teaching directing guiding gouerning the Christian World but that yet amongst themselues there was an inequality one was superior had power ouer the rest not in respect of the acts of their office of teaching gouerning the world but in respect of their personall actions This surely is one of the strangest paradoxes that euer was heard of For who can imagine that God would trust the Apostles with the managing of the weightiest affaires of his Church the gouernment of the whole world without being any way accountant in respect thereof vnto any one amongst thē as superiour that he would appoint an head chief subject them to his censure in their personall actions Nay this is impossible cannot be For if in their office of teaching gouerning the rest of the Church they were equall could not therein be limited or restrained one by another then was there none amongst them that could put any of the rest from his office dignity and imployment Now it is most cleare and certaine that he who hath not power to suspend another from the execution of his office in the Church hath no power to suspend him frō the Sacraments or to excōmunicate him whatsoeuer his personall misdemeanours be For as to be a Minister of the Church presupposeth to bee a member of it soe to be put from being a member of the Church implyeth and presupposeth a putting from all office and dignity in the Church soe that there neither was nor could bee any amongst the Apostles that had power to put any of the rest out of the Church or to suspend them from the vse of the Sacraments seeing there was none found amongst them that had authority to limit restraine or debarre any of the rest from the execution of his office and therefore all that any one of them could do in respect of another was but to admonish him vpon his rejecting of such admonitions to refuse to communicate with him which thing any one may doe in an absolute equality as well as when one is superiour to another as we see by the example of Paul reprouing Peter and resisting him to his face and likewise by that of Paul and Barnabas parting the one from the other vpon such dislikes and differences as grew betweene them Wherefore I suppose our Aduersaries will not much insist vpon this their first shift and evasion Let vs see therefore if their second be any better It is true say they that all power Ecclesiasticall and all degrees of the same are included and implyed in the Apostolique office and dignity that the Apostles as Apostles were all equall and consequently that there was no one amongst the Apostles but in his time had as much to doe in gouerning of the Church as Peter without receiuing any thing from him or being any way subiect to his controule and to be restrained limited or directed by him But this amplitude of power whicch all the Apostles had in common the rest had onely for themselues and as a personall priuiledge that was to end with them but Peter had the same in such sort that he might leaue it to to his Successours Soe that that power which in the rest was Apostolique and temporary and to end with them was ordinary Pastorall and perpetuall in Peter and to be deriued from him to his Successours and after-commers Surely this second evasion will be found much worse then the first for it is absurd to say that Peter left all the dignity and Ecclesiasticall power he had in common with the rest of the Apostles to his successours for then all Popes should be immediately chosen by God not by the Cardinals then should they all be consecrated and ordained immediately by Christ not by Bishops then should they all see Christ in the flesh then should they all haue power to write bookes of Canonicall Scripture and be free from danger of erring whensoeuer they either preach or write for so the Apostles were yea then should they confirme their doctrine by miracles and giue the Holy Ghost by imposition of their Hands Whereas yet noe Pope dareth challenge any one of these preeminences If they say that all the dignity and power that was in the Apostles vvas not ordinary Pastorall and perpetuall in Peter and soe to be passed ouer to his Successours but some part of it onely it is just nothing they say For then this is all that they affirme that some part of that dignity and power that was in Peter is in Peters Successours and so there is in the silliest Priest in the world But they will say immediate vocation the seeing of Christ in the flesh infallibility of judgment power to write Canonicall bookes of Scripture and the confirmation of doctrine by miracles together with the giuing of the holy Ghost by imposition of hands were fitting to the first beginnings of Christianity and not of perpetuall necessity and vse and therefore to cease after things were established but that vniversality of jurisdiction and a kind of infallibility of judgment are perpetually necessarie and therefore these were to passe from Peter to others though the rest of the Apostolique preeminences were not Thus then first they amplifie the excellent dignities of Peter as if the rest had not had the like but being conuinced that hee had nothing the rest had not they make shew as if they would proue that the Apostle S. Peter had all those things in such sort that hee might leaue them to his Successours which the rest had as personall priuilidges onely because hee is described to be a Pastour of the Church in that CHRIST sayth vnto him Feed my sheepe and the office of a Pastour is of perpetuall necessity But being vrged that there are many excellent dignities found in Peter and the rest that are not communicable to any other as immediate vocation seeing of CHRIST in the flesh absolute infallibilitie in word and writing speaking in diuerse tongues power to doe miracles and power to giue the visible giftes of the holy Ghost by the imposition of hands they confesse that precisely Peters being a Pastour of the Christian Church will not proue that anie dignitie of his mentioned in the Scripture is perpetuall pastorall and to continue for euer vnlesse the necessity of the perpetuity of it bee made to appeare otherwise Whence it will follow that they cannot proue that any speciall preeminences in Peter which hee had in common with the rest as namely infallibility of judgment and vniuersality of Iurisdiction were Pastorall and perpetuall in him and to bee passed from him to his after-commers and thereby entitle the Pope vnto them For
Catholicarum quam plurimum scripturarum solertissimus indagator authoritatem sequatur inter quas fanè illae sunt quas Apostolica sedes habere ab eâ alij meruerunt accipere epistolas So that whereas Saint Augustine saith that in reckoning the Canonicall bookes of Scripture a man must follow the authority of the greater number of Catholique Churches and among them especially such as either had Apostolicall seates as Hierusalem and the like or receiued Epistles from some of the Apostles as did the Churches of Corinth and Galatia Gratian maketh him say that the Epistles which the Apostolicall See receiued or other receiued of it are to be reckoned among Canonicall Scriptures This ouersight of Gratian Picus Mirandula long since obserued and after him Alfonsus a Castro whereby wee may see how easie it was for men in former times to runne into most grosse errors before the reuiuing of learning in these latter times while the blinde did lead the blinde For Gratian was the man out of whom the greatest Diuines of former times tooke all their authorities of Fathers and Councles as appeareth by their marginall quotations And how ignorantly and negligently he mistooke them mis-alleaged thē this one example is proof sufficient But whatsoeuer we think of Gratian we shall find that not only our Diuines but the best learned among our aduersaries also put a greatdifference between the sacred scriptures of the holy Canon and the Decrees of Councels For first they say the Scripture is the word of God reuealed immediately and written in a sort from his owne mouth according to that of S. Peter the holy men of God spake as they were moued by the holie Ghost And that of S. Paul All Scripture is by diuine inspiration which is not so to be vnderstood as if alwaies the holy Writers had had new reuelations and had alwayes written that which before they were ignorant of for it is certaine that the Euangelists Mathew and Iohn wrote those things which they saw and Marke and Luke those things they heard from others as Luke himselfe confesseth in the beginning of his Gospel But the holy writers are therefore said to haue had immediate reuelation and to haue written the words of God himselfe because either some new things and not knowne before were reuealed to them by God or because God immediately inspired and moued the Writers to write those things which they had seene and heard and directed them that they should not any way erre in writing whereas Councels neither haue nor write immediate reuelations or words of God but only declare which is that word of God vttered formerly to the Prophets and Apostles how it is to bee vnderstood and what conclusions may bee deduced from it by discourse of reason Secondly the holy Writers performed that which they did without any further labour or trauell then that in writing and calling to minde what they had seene and heard but in Councels the Bishoppes and Fathers with great paine and trauell seeke out the trueth by discourse conference reading and deepe meditation and therefore the holy Writers are wont to attribute all to God onely and the Prophets were wont often to repeate The Lord sayth Thirdly in the Scriptures not onethe whole sentences but euery word pertaineth to Faith for no word is therein vaine or ill placed But in Councels there are many disputations going before resolution many reasons brought for confirmation of things resolued on many things added for explication and illustration many things vttered obiter and in passage that men are not bound to admitte as true and right nay many things are defined in Councels that men are not bound to stand vnto For it is the manner of Councels sometimes to define a thing as certainely and vndoubtedly true pronouncing them Heretiques that thinke otherwise and subiecting them to curse Anathema and sometimes as probable onely and not certaine as the Councell of Vienna decreed that it is more probable that both grace and vertues accompanying grace are infused into Infants when they are baptized then that they are not and yet is this no matter faith in the Church of Rome Fourthly in the scripture all things as well concerning particular persons as in generality are vndoubtedly true For it is as certaine that Peter and Paul had the spirit of God as that no man can be saued without the illumination and sanctification of the spirit but in the determinations and decrees of Bishoppes assembled in a generall councell it is not so for they may erre in iudging of the persons of men and therefore there is no absolute certainty in the canonization of Saints as both Thomas and Canus do confesse Fiftly in Scriptures there are no precepts touching manners either concerning the whole church or any part of it that are not right equall and just But councels may erre if not in prescribing things euill in stead of good yet in prescribing things not fitting nor expedient if not to the whole church yet to some particular part of it as not knowing the cōdition of things therein Yea some there are that think it not hereticall to beleeue that generall councels may prescribe some lawes to the whole church that are not right profitable and iust as to honour such a one for a Saint who indeed is no Saint to admit such orders of Religious men as are not profitable to receiue the communion onely in one kinde and the like And there are many that confidently pronounce that generall councells may decree such things as may breed inconuenience and may sauour of too great seuerity and austerity which the guides of the church in the execution of the same must bee forced to qualifie and temper So that the onely question is whether a generall councell may certainely define any thing to bee true in matter of faith that is false or command the doing of any act as good and an act of vertue that indeed and in trueth is an act of sinne Touching this point there are that say that all interpretations of holy Scriptures agreed on in generall councels and all resolutions of doubtes concerning things therein contained proceed from the same Spirit from which the holy Scriptures were inspired and that therefore generall councels cannot erre either in the interpretation of Scriptures or resoluing of things doubtfull concerning the faith But these men should know that though the interpretations and resolutions of Bishops in generall councels proceed from the same Sperit from which the Scriptures were inspired yet not in the same sort nor with like assurance of beeing free from mixture of errour For the Fathers assembled in generall councels doe not rely vppon immediate reuelation in all their particular resolutions and determinations as the Writers of the Bookes of holy Scripture did but on their owne meditation search and study the generall assistance of Diuine grace concurring with them That the Fathers
parts of this Church and Catholiques that thinke the Pope may iudicially erre vnlesse a generall Councell concurre with him which in their opinion is an error and neare to heresie Yea the same Bellarmine sayth that the particular Romane Church that is the cleargy and people of Rome subiect to the Pope cannot erre because though some of them may yet all cannot It is true therefore which I haue deliuered not withstanding any thinge the Treatiser can say to the contrary that the Church including all the faithfull that are and haue beene since the Apostles may be sayd to bee free from error because in respect of her totall vniuersality she is so it being impossible that any errour should bee found in all her parts at all times though in respect of her seuerall parts shee be not For sometimes and in some parts she hath erred and in this sense can no more be sayd to be free from error then a man may be sayd to bee free from sicknesse that in some parts is ill affected But as a man that hath not beene alwaies nor in all parts ill may bee said to be free from perpetuall and vniuersall sicknesse so the Church is free from perpetuall and vniuersall error This the Treatiser saith is a weake priuiledge and not answerable to the great and ample promises made by Christ whereas the Fathers knew no other whatsoeuer this good man imagineth For Vincentius Lyrinensis confesseth that error may infect some parts of the Church yea that it may sometimes infect almost the whole Church so that he freeth it only from vniuersall perpetuall error But sayth the Treatiser what are poore Christians the nearer for this priuiledge how shall such a Church be the director of their faith and how shall they know what faith was preached by the Apostles what parts taught true doctrine and when and which erred in subsequent ages Surely this question is easily answered For they may know what the Apostles taught by their writings and they may know what parts of the Church teach true doctrine by comparing the doctrine each part teacheth with the written word of God and by obseruing who they are that bring in priuate and strange opinions contrary to the resolution of the rest But if happily some new contagion endeauour to commaculate the whole Church together they must looke vp into Antiquity and if in Antiquity they finde that some followed priuate and strange opinions they must carefully obserue what all not noted for singularity or heresie in diuerse places and times constantly deliuered as vndoubtedly true and receiued from such as went before them This course Vincentius Lyrinensis prescribeth But the Treatiser disclaimeth it not liking that all should be brought to the letter of holy Scripture and the workes of Antiquity which setting aside the authority of the present Church he thinketh yeeld no certaine and diuine argument So that according to his conceipt wee must rest on the bare censure and iudgement of the Pope for he is the present Church Antiquity is to be contēued as little or nothing worth Hauing iustified the distinctiō of the diuerse cōsiderations of the Church impugned by the Treatiser that which he hath touching the two assertions annexed to it will easily bee answered For the one of them is most true his addition of not erring being taken away and the other is but his idle imagination for wee neuer deliuered any such thing §. 3. IN the third place he excepteth against Mee because I say the words of the Apostle in the Epistle to Timothy touching the house and Church of God are originally vnderstood of the Church of Ephesus wherein Paul directeth Tymothy how to demeane and behaue himselfe but because I haue cleared this exception in my answere to Higgons I will say nothing to him in this place but referre him thither §. 4. FRom the Apostle the Treatiser passeth to Saint Augustine and chargeth Me th I wrest his words when he sayth he would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him to a sense neuer meant by him These words of S. Augustin are vsually alleadged by the Papists to proue that the authority of the Church is the ground of our faith reason of beleeuing in answere whereunto I shew that the Diuines giue two explications of them For Ockam and some other vnderstand them not of the multitude of beleeuers that now are in the world but of the whole number of them that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh so including the Apostles and in this sense they confesse that the Church because it includeth the writers of the bookes of the new Testament is of greater authority then the books themselues Other vnderstand by the name of the Church onely the multitude of beleeuers liuing in the world at one time and thinke the meaning of Augustine is that the authority of this Church was an introduction vnto him but not the ground of his faith and principall or sole reason of beleeuing The former of these explications this graue censurer pronounceth to be friuolous First because if wee may beleeue him Saint Augustine neuer vsed these words Catholique Church after this sort in that sense Secondly because he speaketh of that Church which commanded him not to beleeue Manicheus which vndoubtedly was the present Church Thirdly because as he supposeth I can alleadge no Diuine that so interpreted the words of Augustine that which I cite out of Ockam being impertinent To euery of these reasons I will briefly answere And first that Augustine doth vse the words Catholique Church in the sense specified by Me it is euident For writing against Manicheus he hath these words Palám est quantū in re dubia ad fidem certitudinem valent Catholicae Ecclesiae authoritas quae ab ipsis fundatissimis sedibus Apostolorū vsque ad hodiernū diem succedētibus sibimet Episcopis tot populorū cōsensione firmatur that is it is apparant what great force the authority of that Church hath to settle the perswasion of faith cause certainty in things doubtfull that from the most surely established seats of the Apostles by succession of Bishops euen till this present cōsent of people is most firmely setled To the second reason wee answere that the Church including the Apostles and all faithfull ones that haue beene since comprehendeth in it the present Church and so might commaund Augustine not to listen to Manicheus So that this commaunding proueth not that he speaketh precisely of the present Church To the third I say that the Treatiser is either strangely ignorant or strangely impudent when hee affirmeth that I can alledge no Diuine that vnderstandeth the words of Augustine of the Church including in it the Apostles such as liued in their times For first Durandus vnderstandeth them of the Primitiue Church including the Apostles Secondly Gerson will tell him that when
Augustine saith he would not beleeue the Gospell if the authoritie of the Church did not moue him hee vnderstandeth by the name of the Church the Primitiue congregation of those Faithful ones which saw heard Christ and were his witnesses Thirdly Driedo writeth thus when Augustine saith hee would not beleeue the Gospell if the authoritie of the Church did not moue him hee vnderstandeth that Church which hath beene euer since the beginning of the Christian Faith hauing her Bishops in orderly sort succeeding one another and growing and increasing till our times which Church truly comprehendeth in it the blessed company of the Holy Apostles who hauing seene Christ his miracles and learned from his mouth the Doctrine of Faith deliuered vnto vs the Evangelicall Scriptures And againe the same ◠Driedo saith that the authority of the Scripture is greater then the authoritie of the Church that now is in the world in it selfe considered But if wee speake of the vniversal Church including all Faithfull ones that are and haue beene the authority of the Church is in a sort greater then the Scripture and in a sort equall For explication whereof he addeth that as touching things that cannot bee seené nor knowne by vs we beleeue the sayings writings of men not as if they had in them in themselues considered a sufficient force to moue vs to beleeue but because by some reasons we are perswaded of them who deliuer such things vnto vs thinke them worthie to be beleeued So S. Augustine might rightly say hee would not beleeue the bookes of the Gospel if the authority of the Church did not moue him vnderstanding the vniuersal Church of which he speaketh against Manicheus which including the Apostles hath had in it an orderly course of succession of Bishops till our time For the faithfulnes trueth credit of this Church was more evident then the Trueth of the books of the New Testament which are therefore receiued as sacred true because written by those Apostles to whō Christ so many waies gaue testimony both by word and worke and the Scriptures are to be proued by the authority of that Church which included the Apostles but in the Church that now is or that includeth only such as are now liuing God doth not so manifest himselfe as hee formerly did so that this Church must demōstrat herself to be Orthodox by prouing her faith out of the Scripture With Driedo Ockam cōcurreth his words are these sometimes the name of the Church cōprehendeth not only the whole cōgregation of Catholiques liuing but the Faithful departed also in this sense blessed Augustine vseth the name of the Church in his book against the Manichees cited in the Decrees 2. dist c. palà m where the Catholique Church importeth the Bishops that haue succeeded one another frō the Apostles times the people subiect to thē And in the same sense Augustine vseth the name of the Church when he saith he would not beleeue the Gospell if the authoritie of the Church did not moue him for this Church comprehendeth in it the Writers of the bookes of the Gospell and all the Apostles so that from the authoritie of Augustine rightly vnderstood it cannot be inferred that the Pope the maker of the Canons is rather more to be beleeued then the Gospel yet it may be granted that wee must more rather beleeue the Church which hath beene from the times of the Prophets Apostles till now then the Gospel not for that men may any way doubt of the Gospell but because the whole is greater then the part So that the Church which is of greater authoritie then the Gospel is that whereof the Writer of the Gospel is a part Neither is it strange that the whole should bee of more authority then the parts These are the words of Ockam in the place cited by me Wherfore let the Reader judge whether that I cite out of Ockam be impertinent as the Treatiser saith or not To Durandus Gerson Driedo Ockam we may adde Waldensis who fully agrees with thē shewing at large that it pertayned to the Church onely in her first best and primitiue state age to deliuer a perfect direction touching the Canon of the Scripture so that shee hath no power or authority now to adde any more bookes to the Canon already receiued as out of her owne immediate knowledge But it sufficeth to the magnifying of her authority in her present estate that euen now no other bookes may bee receiued but such only as in her first and best estate shee proposed Farther adding that the saying of Augustine that hee would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him is to bee vnderstood of the Church including the primitiue Fathers and Pastors the Apostles Scholers By this which hath bin sayd it is euident as I thinke that the former of those two constructions which I make of Augustines words hath bin approued by far better men then this Treatiser And that therefore he sheweth himself more bold then wise when he pronounceth it to be frivolous And surely if we consider well the discourse of S. Augustine I thinke it may be proued vnanswerably out of the circumstances of the fame that hee speaketh not precisely of the present Church For it is that authority of the catholicke church hee vrgeth that was begun by miracles nourished by hope increased by charity confirmed strengthned by long continuance And of that Church he speaketh wherin there had bin a succession of Bishops from Peter till that present time So that he must needs meane the Church including not onely such faythfull ones as were then liuing when hee wrote but all that either then were or had bin from the Apostles times Wherefore let vs passe to the other construction of Augustines words which is that the authority of the present church was the ground reason of an acquisit fayth an introduction leading him to a more sure stay but not the reason or ground of that faith whereby principally he did beleeue This constructiō the Treatiser sayth cannot stand because Aug saith if the authority he speaketh of be weakned hee will beleeue no longer Whence it seemeth to be consequent that it was the cause of all thē perswasion of fayth that he had then when he wrote not only of an acquisit fayth preparing fitting him to a stronger more excellent farther degree or kind of faith For the clearing of this poynt we must note that there are 3. sorts of such mē as beleeue for there are some that beleeue out of piety onely not discerning by reason whether the things they beleeue be to be beleeued as true or not the 2d. haue a light of diuine reason shining in them causing an approbation of that they beleeue the 3d. sort hauing a pure heart conscience begin already inwardly to taste that which hereafter
example of it in Scripture yet I affirme that it is no vnwritten tradition in that the grounds reasons and causes of the necessity of it are there contained the benefites that follow it Neither doth the place alledged by him out of Augustine proue the contrary the words of Augustine as commonly we reade them are these the custome of the Church in baptizing infants which is not to be despised or lightly regarded were not to be beleeued were it not an Apostolique tradition But whosoeuer shall consider the place will soone perceiue that Augustines meaning is that the custome of the Church in baptizing Infants which he saith is not to be despised or lightly regarded is to be beleeued to be no other but an Apostolical tradition not that it were not to be beleeued if it were not an Apostolicall tradition howsoeuer as it seemeth esset in stead of esse is crept into the text For it is something harsh to say the custome of the Church in baptizing infants is not to be beleeued vnlesse it were an Apostolicall Tradition Seeing such a custome might be beleeued though it were not an Apostolicall Tradition And besides the drift of Augustine in that place is to vrge the necessitie of this custome and to haue it beleeued to be Apostolicall and not to weaken it as if it had no support but bare tradition which can neither stand with the opinion of Augustine the truth of the thing it selfe nor the iudgement and resolution of our Adversaries themselues who thinke that the Baptisme of Infants may be proued vnanswerably out of Scripture in that CHRIST saith the Kingdome of Heauen belongeth to litle children and yet pronounceth that except a man bee borne a new of water of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heauen Wherein yet they contradict themselues as they doe likewise in some other things which they produce as instances of vnwritten traditions and yet goe about to proue them by Scripture Neither will the Treatisers evasion serue the turne that they goe not about to proue any thing necessarily out of Scripture that they pretend to be holden by vnwritten tradition but probably only for we know they bring Paedobaptisme as an instance of vnwritten traditions and yet say it may bee vnavoydably proued out of Scripture as they propose the testimonies of it The like may be said of the consubstantiality of the Sonne of God with the Father and the proceeding of the Holy Ghost from them both brought by them as instances of vnwritten verities and yet prooued as strongly by them out of Scripture as any other point of Faith For if they shall say an Heretique will not yeeld himselfe convinced by such proofes it will bee answered that no more he will by any other in any other point nor by the tradition of the Church neither which yet I suppose they will not make to be a weake proofe in that respect §. 9. THe next exception taken against Me is that I haue not well said that a man may still doubt and refuse to beleeue a thing defined in a Generall Councell without Hereticall pertinacie and that Generall Councels may erre in matters of greatest consequence What I haue written I will make good against the Treatiser For it is not so strange a thing as he would make vs beleeue to thinke that Generall Councels may erre that a man may doubt of things defined in thē without heretical pertinacie seeing not onely our Diuines generally so thinke but sundry of the best learned in the Romane Church informer times were of the same opinion as I haue else-where shewed at large Neither were it hard to answere the authorities hee bringeth to prooue that Generall Councels cannot erre if a man would insist vpon the particular examination of them But this may suffice in a generalitie that the Fathers produced by him blame and condemne in particular the calling of things in question that had beene determined in the Councell of Nice and some other of that sort and not generallie the doubting of any thing determined in any Councell how disorderly soeuer it proceeded In the second Councell of Ephesus there wanted not a sufficient number of worthy Bishops yet because hee that tooke on him the Presidentship vsed not accustomed moderation neither permitted each man freely to deliuer his opinion it was not accepted nor the Decrees of it receiued From the not erring of Councels the Treatiser passeth to the question concerning the Churches authority in making new Articles of faith and seeketh to cleare the Romane Church from the imputation of challēging any such authority by my confession my words alleadged by him to this purpose are these Our aduersaries confesse that the approbation and determination of the Church cannot make that a truth which was not nor that a Diuine or Catholique truth that was not so before But the good man hath vsed this poore sentence of mine as Hanun vsed the messengers of Dauid whose garments he cut off in the middle a wrong afterwards seuerely and yet most iustly reuenged by Dauid For it followeth in the same sentence that Papists do thinke that the Church by her sole and bare determination may make that veritie to be in such sort Catholique that euery one must expressely beleeue it that was not soe and in such degree Catholique before Whereby it appeareth that they attribute a power to the Church in a sort to make new Articles of faith in that shee may make things formerly beleeued onely implicite to bee necessary to bee expressely beleeued not by euidence of proofe or apparant deduction from thinges expressely beleeued but by her bare and sole authority which not onely wee but sundry right learned godly and wise in the middest of the Church of Rome euer denied Wherefore let vs passe from this imagined aduantage to consider the rest of his exceptions §. 10. IN my third booke and first Chapter speaking of the Patriarche of Constantinople I haue these words In the second generall Councell holden at Constantinople he was preferred before the other Patriarches of Alexandria and Antioch and set in degree of honour next vnto the Bishoppe of Rome in the great Councell of Chalcedon hee was made equall with him and to haue all equall rights priuiledges and prerogatiues because hee was Bishoppe of new Rome as the other was of old Hereupon the Treatiser breaketh out into these wordes I cannot doe otherwise but maruaile that a man of his place and learning doth not blush to committe such a notorious vntrueth to the Print and view of the world For not to speake of the falshood of the first part of his affirmation because it is in some sort impertinent that which hee saith of the Councell of Chalcedon is most vntrue repugnant to all antiquity and not onely contrary to all proceedings and the history of the sayd Councell but also to the wordes of the Canon by him alleaged
the See of olde Rome and shall be before all the rest in order and honour Neither did Martian the Emperour as the Treatiser most vntruely avoucheth voide the Canons of these Councels which in this sort were confirmed afterwards by Iustinian Wherefore seeing it is evident that almost the whole Christian world in diuerse Generall Councels feared not to make another Bishop the Bishop of Romes Peere I hope the Reader will easily discerne that I haue not passed the bounds of modestie nor fallen into any vnseemely scoffing and railing vaine as the Treatiser chargeth Mâ—… when I taxe the Antichristian and Lucifer-like pride of the Romish Antichrist who not-with-standing the contradiction of the greatest part of the Christian world sought to subject all the members of Christ to himselfe and pronounced them all to be in the state of damnation that bowe not downe before him as Vice-God and supreame commaunder on earth But it seemeth hee had a great desire at the least to seeme to say some-thing against Me. For other-wise hee would not so shamelesly be-lye Me as he doth when hee saith I would deriue the beginning of the Popes superioritie from Phocas whereas in the place cited by him I haue no such thing but the contrary For I affirme that in the first Councell of Constantinople the Bishop of that citty was set in degree of honour next vnto the Bishop of Rome and before the other two Patriarches of Alexandria and Antioche thereby confessing that the Bishop of Rome had the first place at that time Which when the Constantinopolitan Bishop sought to haue Phocas so concluded matters betweene these two Bishops that the Bishop of Rome should haue the first and chief place in the church of GOD and Constantinople the second so that the praeeminence chieftie which the Pope claimeth lawfully was ancient and not deriued from Phocas howsoeuer he might and happily did enlarge and extend it farther then was fit giuing him a kinde of vniversalitie of jurisdiction §. 11. FRom the Primacie of the Bishop of Rome the Treatiser passeth to the infallibilitie of his judgment and affirmeth that his Decrees though he define without a Generall Councell are that firme Rocke and sure ground vpon which our Faith is to bee builded and that a man may well admit his definitions as a ground of supernaturall Faith and prudently builde an act of such supernaturall Faith vpon it And yet in the same place confesseth it is not yet authentically defined that the Pope in this sort cannot erre Which thing also Bellarmine and Stapleton acknowledge professing expressely that it is no matter of faith to beleeue that the Pope cannot erre if hee define without a Generall Councell In which passages there is as I suppose a most grosse contradiction For how can the infallibilitie of the Popes iudgement bee to them a Rocke to builde an act of supernaturall Faith vpon who neither know nor beleeue that his iudgement is infallible but thinke so onely Can a man certainely and vndoubtedly builde his perswasion of any thing vpon his sayings whome hee neither knoweth nor beleeueth to bee free from errour Wherefore for the cleering of this poynt First the Treatiser saith Though the Church haue not authentically defined that the Pope cannot erre yet the Scriptures and other arguments brought to proue it are so plaine and there are so many that thinke so that a man may very well admitte his definitions to be a ground of fayth Whence it will follow that a man may build his fayth vpon the Scriptures and other arguments and reasons without expecting the resolution of the Church for the vnderstanding of the one and discerning of the force and validity of the other â— Whereas else-where hee professeth that without the resolution of the present Church the letter of holy Scripture and the workes of Antiquity yeeld no certaine and diuine argument Secondly hee contradicteth himselfe and denieth the supposed infallibility of the Popes judgement to bee the Rocke on which the Church is builded and maketh that rocke to be onely the consenting iudgement of the Pope other Bishoppes in a Generall Councell contrary to the opinion of almost all learned pious men as he telleth vs himselfe who thinke that that infallibility of judgment and assurance of trueth vpon which our faith is to be builded is not partly in the Pope and partly in other Bishops but altogether in the Pope Thus seeking to avoyd one contradiction hee runneth into many The second Part. §. 1. HAuing surueyed the first part of the Treatise and examined such objections as the Authour of it maketh against Mee I will passe to the second wherein first he goeth about to proue out of that which I haue that Bishops assembled in Generall Councels may interpret the Scriptures and by their authority suppresse them that gaine-say such interpretations as they consent vpon subjecting them to excommunication censures of like nature that according to the prouidence and wisdome of Almighty God Generall Councels should not be subject to errour in such matters for that otherwise men might be forced according to Gods ordinance to obey Generall Councels erring propounding false Doctrine Which is a very silly kinde of reasoning for in the very same sort a man may proue that particular Bishops are free from erring in their proceedings that they can impose prescribe nothing vniustly vnder paine of excommunication for that otherwise men might bee forced and that according to Gods ordinance to obey such Bishops erring in their proceedings and commanding vnjust things whereas there is no question to bee made but that they haue power to excommunicate who may abuse the same and that sometimes it is a thing most pleasing vnto God by refusing to obey them that haue power to excommunicate but abuse the same to run into the vttermost extremities of their censures yea S. Augustine pronounceth that the patient enduring of wrongs in this kinde shall be highly rewarded by almighty God Secondly in the same chapter labouring to proue that Protestants contemne reject the Fathers to that purpose wresting some sayings of Doctour Humfry and others he objecteth that I haply may seem to some one that doth not throughly looke into my words to approue the authority of the ancient Fathers as farre forth as any Catholicke but sayth that in truth I doe not For proofe whereof hee setteth downe what I haue written touching this poynt Namely first that wee must receiue as true whatsoeuer hath beene deliuered by all the Saintes with one consent which haue left their opinion and judgement in writing it not being possible that they should all haue written of any thing but that which was generally receiued in their times and toucheth the very life of Christian fayth Secondly whatsoeuer the most famous haue constantly and vniformely deliuered as a matter of fayth no man contradicting them though many bee found to haue sayd nothing of
it Thirdly whatsoeuer the most famous in euery age haue constantly delivered as matter of faith receiued from them that went before them in such sort that the gain-sayers were in their beginnings noted for singularity nouelty and diuision and in processe of time if they persisted in such contradiction charged with heresie which is as much as any Papist doth say And then insteed of shewing that I attribute not soe much to the Fathers as I should do or as Papists doe hee turneth himselfe to shew that such consent of Fathers as I speake of is no sure direction for the finding out of the trueth Soe ouer-throwing all that which his owne Diuines haue deliuered touching this point But yet that he may seeme to say something to the purpose he goeth about to proue that I bereaue the Fathers almost of all authority First in that I reiect their testimonies touching all other matters but onely certaine principall and substantiall points Secondly in that I require such a generall consent as can hardly be found touching such principall points Thirdly in that I make the whole Church subiect to error For answere vnto these Allegations I say The first is a shamelesse vntruth For I do not limitte or restraine the consent of the Fathers to certaine principall or substantiall points as hee mis-reporteth Mee but make the same to bee a direction in all thinges that may be cleerely deduced from the rule of faith and word of diuine and heauenly trueth answerably to that of Vincentius Lyrinensis that the consent of holy Fathers is with great studie and care to be sought out and followed by vs not in all petite questions that may bee moued concerning the Diuine law but onely or at the least specially in thinges pertaining to the rule of Faith with whom Pererius agreeth To the second I say that I require no other consent of Fathers then Vincentius Lyrinensis doth who will haue vs onely to followe that doctrine of the Fathers as certaine which all with one consent haue holden written and taught that haue written of such thinges Neither doth this worthy Treatiser admitte any other consent then I require for in this same chapter hee hath these wordes They will obiect that euery one of the Fathers was subiect to errour I confesse it but yet God according to his promise as I haue aboue declared was so to direct and gouerne them that they should not all erre This consent of the Fathers wee make to be a Rule of direction but yet not so generally and absolutely as if truth could not at any time be found out without it but so that wee must not neglect the knowledge of it nor goe against it when wee know it Neither is it necessary for the knowledge hereof as the Treatiser obiecteth to read ouer all the Fathers for the constant concurrence of the principall in all ages without noted contradiction doth suffice to assure vs of such consent The third allegation is partly vntrue and partly inconsequent it is vntrue in that hee sayth I thinke all the Pastours of the present Church may erre in matters of greatest momeÌ„t It is incoÌ„sequeÌ„t because though the whole preseÌ„t Church may erre in some things not pertaining to the rule of faith and Generall Councels in matters of greatest consequence yet it followeth not that the Fathers of all times and places may be thought to haue erred seeing this succession of Fathers is of greater authority then the company of Pastors that now are Neither is it consequent that if error may possesse the greatest part or almost all the present Church that it may bee Catholike also and so found euery where and euer The former Vincentius Lyrinensis yeeldeth to bee possible but disclaimeth the latter and therefore prescribeth that if error creepe into one part of the Church wee should looke vnto other that if it endeauour to staine and defile all we should looke vp higher vnto antiquity and that if some haue erred amongst the Auncient we should looke what all not noâ—…d for singularity did teach §. 2. WHerefore let vs proceed to that which followeth in the next place first hee reporteth what I haue written touching the ground of that perswasion which we haue of the trueth of thinges contayned in Scripture and then taketh exceptions to it In the report first he sayth that I make the principall cause of our beleefe of thinges contained in the bookes of holy Scripture to be the habit or light of faith Secondly that besides the habit or light of faith I require reasons or motiues by force whereof the spirit of God may settle the mind of a man in the perswasion of the trueth of things contained in Scripture that might otherwise be doubted of Thirdly that I make this motiue or reason in some things to bee the evidence of the things themselues in the light of grace in other not so evident vnto vs the authority of God himselfe whom we doe most certainely discerne to speake in the word of Faith preached vnto vs. These things I confesse are deliuered by Mee and rightly collected by him out of that which I haue written Yet doth hee wrong some other of the same iudgment with Me touching this point in that he saith vntruly they reject all supernaturall habits so goeth about to make a difference betweene them and Mee in this respect whereas in truth and in deede there is none But what is that the good man doth or can dislike in this my discourse First hee vndertaketh to proue that neither the evidence of the things contained in Scriptures in themselues presupposing the light of grace nor the authoritie of God himselfe discerned to speake can be sufficient motiues whereby the spirit of God may settle vs in the perswasioÌ„ of the truth of such things as are therein coÌ„tained Whereas yet I think if he were asked what the motiues are by force whereof the spirit doth effect this work if these be not he would not easily giue any answer but how doth he demoÌ„strate the insufficiencie of these motiues Surely very weakly insufficiently For first thus he reasoneth against them if these motiues were of sufficiencie euery one enlightned by the light of grace should by vertue of them bee perswaded of the Heauenly Trueth of all such things as are contained in the books of God which is a very bad inference For by the like kinde of reasoning it may bee prooued that the evidence of things in the light of nature is not the motiue or inducement that causeth our perswasion touching such things as are knowne in naturall knowledge because all that haue the light of naturall reason are not rightly perswaded concerning all such things which no wise man will allow So that as it is not to be imputed to the defect of evidence in the things that are to be knowne in naturall knowledge which should settle the perswasion that all men are not rightly perswaded of
done by euery one Wherevnto we answere according to their owne groundes that those partes of divine and canonicall Scripture which particularly wee haue not read or considered are onely implicitè and vertually beleeued of vs as likewise the thinges that are contayned in them neither should this seeme strange to the Romanists for they thinke it pertayneth to the faith of each Christian man to beleeue all the bookes of holy Scripture to bee vndoubtedly true and indited by the Spirit of God Yet are there many amongst them that neyther know how many nor which these bookes are but beleeue them vertually onely as it appertayneth to the fayth to beleeue that Iesus Mary Ioseph fledde into Aegypt and that Paul mediated for the reconciling of Onesimus to Philemon but it is sufficient for men that neuer read or considered these particulars to beleeue them vertually Thirdly he chargeth vs with contrariety in our sayings in that we make the Scripture to bee the ground and rule of our fayth and yet make the light of faith a meane whereby we come to the knowledge of Scripture because as hee thinketh the Scripture cannot bee a rule of our fayth vnlesse it bee certainely knowne to bee diuine before we beleeue But the good man should knowe that the Scripture may bee the rule of our fayth directing vs touching such particular things as wee are to beleeue though it be not knowne to bee diuine before we beleeue For first God giueth vs the eyes of fayth and openeth our vnderstandings that wee may see and discerne in generall heauenly trueth to bee contayned in Scripture then it becommeth a rule of direction in all particular poynts of faith Fourthly he imputeth to vs that wee relie vpon illuminations and inspirations in the things wee beleeue as if wee beleeued them without any other proofe or demonstration vpon bare imagined inspirations whereas wee beleeue nothing without such proofes and motiues as all men may take notice of and yet knowe right well that none doe make right vse thereof but such as haue their vnderstandings enlightned So that his reasoning against the certainty of this illumination is idle seeing we doe not make illumination or inspiration the ground of our perswasion touching things to be beleeved but a disposition of the mind making vs capable of the apprehension of thinges that are diuine and heauenly This illumination is in some more and in some lesse but in all the chosen seruants of God such as sufficeth for the discerning of all sauing trueth necessary to bee knowne of each man according to his estate and condition Fiftly besides idle repetition of thinges going before to which hee referreth himself and some vntruths mingled with the same First he chargeth Me that I am contrary to my selfe in deliuering the opinions of Papists The first supposed contradiction is in that I affirme that it is the ordinary opinion of Papists that the articles of faith are beleeued because God reuealeth them and yet say in another place that they make the authority of the Church the rule of our fayth and reason why we beleeue The second in that I charge the Papistes in one place that they giue authority to the Church to make new articles of faith and in another place free them from the same This latter supposed contrariety I shewed before to bee none at all but in the Treatisers imagination onely and touching the first if hee were a man of any common vnderstanding or knew what contrariety is hee vvould not charge Mee with any such thing For it is true that all Papists thinke the articles of faith are to be beleeued because reuealed but they thinke also that wee knowe not that they are reuealed but beleeue so onely and that not by reason of any diuine reuelation testimony or authority but because the Church so telleth vs and wee haue many humane inducements mouing vs so to perswade our selues So that they make the authority of the Church and humane inducements the last and finall reason of beleeuing whatsoeuer they beleeue This the Treatiser knew well enough and therefore hee requireth Mee to shew how I know that God reuealeth the things beleeued by Christians If I will not fall into the same fault for which I blame them Whereunto I answere that I know the Scriptures to bee inspired of God by the diuine force and majesty that sheweth it selfe in them in which sence I say the bookes of Scripture win credit of themselues and yeeld sufficient satisfaction to all men of their diuine truth For as the colour in each thing maketh it visible and to be seene so the diuine power vertue that sheweth it selfe in the Scripture maketh vs to beleeue that it is of God But the Treatiser will not thus leaue Mee but still goeth on adding one vniust imputation to another For whereas we say only the Scriptures are not discerned to be diuine and inspired of God vnlesse we be inlightned by grace and not that they are proued to bee diuine by the certaintie of that illumination he maketh vs whether we wil or not to proue the Scriptures by our inspirations and that we are inspired by the Scriptures whereas we proue neither the one nor the other of these things in any such sort For touching the Scripture I haue sufficiently shewed before how we know it to be diuine and for the other the Treatiser should know that we doe not proue by Scripture that we are divinely inlightned and inspired but that as naturall reason hath a direct act whereby she apprehendeth things without a reflexed act whereby taking a view of the former direct acts she findeth out her selfe so the light of Faith first discouereth Heauenly verities in the Scripture such as naturall reason could neuer find out then by reflexion findeth it selfe to be of another nature kind then that rationall vnderstanding that was before Wherefore let vs goe forward Did not mine eyes see and my hands handle the palpable absurdities of this Treatiser I would not beleeue any mans report that one so voide of all sense reason as he euery way sheweth himselfe to be should be permitted to write For whereas I bring a most cleare sentence out of Augustine to proue that howsoeuer the authoritie of the Church serue as an introduction to bring vs to the spirituall discerning of diuine things yet men rest not in it hee answereth that Augustine in the chapter cited by Me affirmeth onely that because all men are not capable at first to vnderstād the sincere wisdome truth taught in the church God hath ordained in it a motiue which may first moue them to seeke it to wit the authority of the Church which partly through miracles partly through multitudes is of force to moue which no way taketh any thing from but rather addeth strength to my proofes for if these motiues be necessary onely at the first before men bee purged made pure in
Caluine doth expressely condemne these reseruations which I confessed before but no way goeth about to make good the consequence which I denied to wit that therefore hee thought the sanctified elements so reserued not to bee Sacramentally the Body of Christ. For that which hee hath that Caluine Bucer Melanchthon and almost all Protestants holde the Eucharist to bee no permanent thing but to bee the Sacrament onely when it is receiued hath no more force of proofe then the rest of his frivolous discourses seeing it is most evident that the Protestants named by him haue no such meaning that the sanctified elements in the Holy Eucharist are no Sacrament but precisely in the very receiuing of them for then they should bee no Sacrament in the hand of the Minister and on the Holy Table but onely in the hand or mouth of the communicant but that they are no Sacrament but in reference to the vse to which they were appointed by Almightie God as I haue shewed at large in the place against which this Treatiser quarrelleth §. 5. LEt vs therefore proceed to see what hee hath more to say In my Fourth booke writing of the things required for the attaining of the right vnderstanding of the Scripture I say some things are required as making vs capable of such vnderstanding and other as meanes whereby we attaine vnto it Amongst the things required as making vs capable of the right vnderstanding of Scripture I reckon the illumination of the vnderstanding and a minde free from the thought of other things depending on God as the Fountaine of illumination desirous to finde out the Truth with resolution to embrace it although contrary to the conceipts of naturall men The meanes whereby we attaine to the right vnderstanding of Holy Scripture I make to be of two sorts some disposing and preparing onely as often reading meditating and praying some guiding vs in the search it selfe and these I make to bee fiâ—…e Whereof the first is the knowledge of the rule of faith and the practise of the Saints according to the same The second a due consideration what will follow vpon our interpretation agreeing with or contrary to the things receiued amongst Christians In which consideration the conference of other places of Scripture is necessary The third the consideration of the circumstances of the places interpreted the occasion of the words the things going before and following after The fourth the knowledge of all those histories arts and sciences which may helpe vs. The fifth the knowledge of the originall tongues and the phrases and idiotismes of the same In all these passages as I thinke there is nothing that the Diuell himselfe dareth gaine-say yet as if I had vttered some strange paradoxes and things neuer heard of before the Treatiser sayth my doctrine is commonly singular in so much that hee professeth hee thinketh hee may very well in some sort liken the platforme or order and Faith of a Church sette downe in my bookes of that argument to Sir Thomas Moores Vtopia and that there neither is nor euer was any such Church in the world as I describe and therevpon maketh shew as if hee would confute euery word that I haue in the place cited by him Verily I thinke it will not bee safe for mee to write or say that there is a GOD that GOD made heauen and earth or that hee sent his sonne into the world for he impugneth thinges as cleare as any of these as that an illumination of the mind is necessary to the vnderstanding of the Scripture inspired of God the thinges contained in it seeing the naturall man perceiueth not the thinges of GOD which are spiritually discerned whereas yet wee shall finde that hee canne say nothing against the necessity of such diuine illumination for the vnderstanding of the Scripture but hee might say as much against the necessity of the light of naturall reason for the vnderstanding of things naturally discernable For hee might aske as now hee doth touching this illumination how a man knoweth hee hath reason or the vse of reason and is not mad or drunke seeing such men as are soe distempered thinke they haue the vse of reason as well as any other and one kinde of answere will serue for both these doubtes For as men know they haue reason by the discerning of such things as are not discernable by the senses or sensitiue faculties which are organicall soe faithfull and beleeuing men that haue their mindes enlightned knowe they haue receiued such a new illumination in that they discerne thinges which before by the dimme sight of nature they could not and as men that are sober and in their right wittes doe certainely know they are soe though such as are madde or drunke thinke they are when they are not and soe deceiue themselues Soe men that haue true illumination of grace may certainely knowe they haue it though some franticke and braine-sicke men thinke they haue it when they haue it not The weaknesse of this assault it seemeth the Treatiser did perceiue and therefore hee assayleth vs another way and vndertaketh to proue that it is not necessary a man should be spirituall before hee vnderstandeth the Scriptures because then it would be consequent that our faith could not be builded vpon Scriptures as we thinke it is But I doubt hee will haue as bad successe as before For as there must bee a naturall light of reason shining in men before any thing naturally discernable canne euidently appeare vnto them to bee that it is and yet the perswasion men haue touching the beeing of such things buildeth it selfe vppon such euidence soe likewise there must be a light of grace shining in the vnderstanding of men before they can vnderstand the Scripture and yet the perswasion they haue of the trueth of diuine thinges may and doth build it selfe vppon the Scriptures vnderstood through such light Wherefore let vs see what hee hath yet more to say Whereas besides an illumination I require in him that will vnderstand the Scriptures a minde free from the thought of other things depending vpon God as the fountaine of illumination and desirous of trueth with resolution to embrace it though contrary to the conceipt of naturall men besides his former exception already answered he addeth these words I dislike these wordes desirous of truth with resolution to embrace it The like wherevnto I protest I neuer read nor heard to come from any man For is it possible there should any such man be found that should dislike it in vs that wee require in him that will vnderstand the Scripture a minde desirous of trueth with resolution to embrace it Surely it is for we haue met with such an one but he hath taken order by concealing his name that noe man shall make him blush by looking on him This doubtlesse is one of the sons of Belial that haue cast off the yoake that neither feare God nor reuerence men But what
knowledge of the tongues may be and is most necessary After all these exceptions taken against the helpes and rules proposed by me for the finding out of the true meaning of Scripture the Treatiser setteth on mee a fresh in fiercer manner then before and requireth me to bring some diuine testimony proofe or argument or some particular reason of the necessity and sufficiency of these helpes and rules Whereunto I briefly answer that if any Papist vnder Heauen can take any exception against any of these helpes and rules proposed by mee or deuise any other I will iustifie the necessity and sufficiencie of them but otherwise I thinke it altogether needlesse to proue that the Sunne shineth at noone 〈◊〉 to shew by reason or authority that spirituall things cannot bee discerned but by spirituall men The Treatiser therefore returneth and taketh new exceptions against the helpes and rules proposed by mee first affirming but most vntruely that the greater part of my brethren will not allow them and secondly labouring to improue them by reason For first that an illumination of the minde is not necessarie for the vnderstanding of the Scripture hee goeth about to shew because if such illumination bee necessarie no man can be assured of the truth of another mans interpretation seeing no man can tell whether hee haue an illumination of the vnderstanding and a minde disposed in such sort as is required or not Whereunto I answer that it is true that no man can assure himselfe that another mans interpretation is true good out of any knowledge of such personall things in the interpreter yet may hee know it to bee true out of the nature of the thing it selfe and thence inferre that either hee that so interpreteth or they from whom hee receiued such interpretation had a diuine illumination For even as to discourse of the nature of colours presupposeth that the man that so discourseth hath or had sight if hee speake thereof with any apprehension of that hee speaketh though a blinde man hauing heard the discourses of other may vse like wordes without all sense and apprehension of that hee speaketh So no man can interprete the Scriptures and discourse of the thinges therein contayned with sence and feeling but such a one whose minde is enlightned though prophane persons and such as bee voyde of all diuine illumination may as from others interprete the Scripture and discourse of such diuine thinges as are therein And as a man may assure himselfe that another mans discourse of colours is good out of the nature of the thing it selfe though hee know not whether hee haue or euer had such sence of seeing as is requisite in him that will speake of colours with any apprehension so a man may know that another mans interpretation is true though hee know not whether he haue such an illumination of mind as is necessary for the vnderstanding of the things contayned in the Scripture Secondly hee vndertaketh to shew that no man can eyther assure himselfe that he hath the true meaning of Scripture or conuince the gaine-sayers by following the direction of the former rules because as hee supposeth a man cannot certainely know that hee hath an illumination of minde that hee hath obserued those rules that hee is disposed as hee should bee and furnished with learning in such sort as is requisite Whereunto first I answere briefly that it is as possible for a man to know whether he haue an illumination of the mind or not as it is whether he haue the light of naturall reason Secondly that the obseruation of the rules formerly mentioned and the disposition of a mans mind resolued to embrace the trueth may as easily be knowen as any other motions purposes and resolutions Neither is it more hard for a man that is spirituall to know whether hee bee sufficiently furnished with learning requisite for the vnderstanding of the Scripture then for a naturall man to knowe whether hee haue learning enough to vnderstand Aristotle or any other prophane authour Thirdly in confutation of the former rules hee alledgeth that they may not be admitted as necessary because if they bee all such as haue no illumination of minde nor willing disposition to embrace the truth when it shal be manifested to thē must be excluded out of the number of faithfull ones Which if he thinke to be an absurdity it is no great matter what he saith but he addeth that they that are vnlearned haue not the knowledge of all those arts and sciences that are necessary for the vnderstanding of sundry parts of Scripture nor of those originall tongues wherein they were written without the knowledge whereof they cannot be vnderstood whereas yet they are to build their fayth vpon the Scripture rightly vnderstood whence it will follow that all such must be excluded out of the number of the faythfull This indeed is such a consequence as must not be admitted neither is there any such thing consequent vpon that which we say For though all men haue not that knowledge of arts sciences and tongues that is necessary for the exact vnderstanding of all parts passages of Scripture yet may they vnderstand so much of the same as is necessary to saluation without the knowledge of arts sciences the things that are so precisely necessary being deliuered in very plaine easie and familiar termes Neither is it necessary that if a man will build his faith vpon the Scripture that he must vnderstand euery part of it Onely one scruple remayneth which is that an ignorant man can haue no certaine ground of his faith if he build the same vpon the Scripture because lacking the knowledge of tongues he cannot know whether it be truely translated or not but this scruple may easily be remoued seeing an ignorant man out of the Scripture it selfe duely proposed explayned and interpreted vnto him may know it to be diuine heauenly inspired of God and consequently that in what tongue soeuer it was written it is truely translated touching the substance howsoeuer happily there may be some accidentall aberrations whereof he cannot judge After these exceptions taken against the helpes rules proposed by me as necessary for the finding out of the sence and meaning of the Scripture the Treatiser obseruing no order in his writings addresseth himselfe to proue that we haue no certaine meanes whereby to know that the Scriptures are of God or which they bee and then returneth againe to proue that we haue no certaine rule whereby to be assured we haue the sence of them But all that hee sayth to this purpose may easily bee answered For first the truth of Christian doctrine is diuinely proued vnto vs by the satisfaction wee finde in the same touching things wherein naturall reason left vs vnresolued and the effects wee finde to follow vppon the receiuing of it Secondly that Christian doctrine is reuealed it is euident because staying within the confines of the light of naturall
Apostles and in many places we finde the same to haue beene done rather for the honour of Priest-hood then the necessity of any Law otherwise if the Spirit descend not but onely at the prayer of the Bishop they are to be lamented who in villages castles and remote places baptized by Priests or Deacons dye before they are visited by the Bishop and then follovve these words The safety of the Church depends on the dignity of the chiefe Priest to whom if an eminent power be not giuen there will bee as many schismes in the Church as there are Priests So that this is that which he saith that it is rather for the honour of the Bishop or chiefe Priest of each Church that the imposition of hands vpon the baptized is reserued vnto him alone then the necessity of any law because if he had no such preeminences things peculiarly reserued vnto him in respect whereof he might be greater then the rest of the Priests Ministers in the Church there would be as many schismes as Priests and hence he saith it commeth that without the command of the Bishop or chiefe Priest neither Priest nor Deacon haue right to baptize So that it is manifest the chiefe Priest he speaketh of whose power is eminent peerelesse is so named in respect of other Priests in the same church that may not so much as baptize without his mandate not in respect of the pastors of the whole vniuersall church Wherefore if this pamphleter would haue dealt truly honestly he should haue said VVhereas heretofore some vnchristian Sermons books termed the Bishop of Rome the great Antichrist we shal now receiue a better doctrine more religious answer that there must be one chiefe Priest or Bishop in euery Diocesse hauing a more eminent authority then the rest then whereas men now detest his falshood they would but onely haue laughed at his folly But let vs come to his second allegation and see if there be any more truth in that then in this His wordes are these Doctor Field telleth vs from Scripture that Christ promised to build his Church vpon Saint Peter then no Christian will doubt vnlesse he will doubt of Christs truth and promises but it was so performed Let the reader peruse the place and hee shal find that I doe not tell them from Scripture that CHRIST promised to builde his Church vpon Peter as this man adding one falshood to another most vntruely sayth I doe but onely cite a place of Tertullian to proue that nothing was hid from the Apostles that was to be reuealed to after-commers where hee hath these words What was hidden and concealed from Peter vpon whom Christ promised to build his Church from Iohn the Disciple hee so dearely loued that leaned on his breast at the mysticall supper and the rest of that blessed company that should be after manifested to succeeding generations But he will say that I approue the saying of Tertullian and therefore thinke the Church was built vpon Peter Truly so I doe but I thinke also as Hierome doth that it was built no more vpon him then vpon all the rest and therefore the supremacy of Peters pretended successour will not bee concluded from thence Dicis saith Hierome super Petrum fundatur Ecclesia licet idipsum in alio loco super omnes Apostolos fiat Super omnes ex aequo Ecclesiae fortitudo solidatur that is Thou wilt say the Church was built vpon Peter It is true it was so but we shall find in another place that it was builded vpon all the Apostles Surely the firmenesse of the Church doth equally stay and settle it selfe vpon them all This is so cleare and evident that Bellarmine himselfe confesseth that all the Apostles may be said to haue beene foundations of the Church and that the Church may bee truely said to haue beene built vpon them all First because they preached Christ to such as had not heard of him before and were the first that founded Christian Churches Secondly in respect of their doctrine which they learned by immediate reuelation from the Sonne of God in which the Church is to rest as in the ground and rule of her faith Thirdly in respect of gouernmēt in that they were all heads rulers of the vniuersal Church Thus wee see if I had told them out of Scripture that Christ promised to build his Church on Peter our Aduersaries could not from thence haue inferred the supremacie of the Pope his pretended Successour Wherefore let vs come to his next allegation His words are Doctor Field and the rest doe ordinarily yeelde that the Romane Church continued the true Church of God till the yeare of Christ sixe hundreth and seauen when Bonifacius the Pope there claimed as they say supremacie first in the Church This is a meere imagination of his own for I no where speake of the Churchcōtinuing till the time of Bonifacius the Pope or till the yeare sixe hundred and seauen as if it had then ceased and therefore hee doth not here cite any page of my booke as in other places but citeth it at large But saith hee Doctor Field plainly acknowledgeth that the supremacy belonged to the Popes of Rome before the first Nicene Councell and then by the rules which hee giueth to knowe true traditions custome of the Church consent of Fathers or an Apostolicall Churches testimony this must needes bee of that first kinde and then of equall authority with Scripture as hee acknowledgeth of such traditions Such is the intollerable impudency of this man that I protest I canne scarce beleeue mine owne eyes or perswade my selfe that hee writeth that which I see hee doth For doe I any where acknowledge the supremacy belonged to the Popes of Rome before the Nicene Councell Nay doe I not in the place cited by him say that before the Nicene Councell there were three principall Bishoppes or Patriarches of the Christian Church to witte the Bishoppes of Rome Alexandria and Antioche as appeareth by the actes of the Councell limiting their bounds Had these their bounds limited and set vnto them and was there one of them an vniuersall commander If hee say I acknowledge the Bishop of Rome was in order and honour the first amongst the Patriarches before the Nicene Councell and thereupon inferre that I acknowledge his supremacie and commaunding power ouer the rest hee may as well inferre that I giue to the Bishop of Alexandria a commanding authority ouer the Bishoppe of Antioche because before the Nicene Councell he was before him in order and honour That which hee addeth as a Corollary that by the rules I giue to know true traditions this must bee of that kinde and cōsequently of equall authority with Scripture argueth in him a greater desire of saying something then care what he saith For first it no way appeareth out of any thing that I haue said touching the primacy of the Pope before the
time of the Nicene Coūcell that either custome of the Church consent of Fathers or the testimony of an Apostolical Church giue the supremacie to the Popes 2ly It is false that hee saith that I make custome of the Church or the testimony of an Apostolicall Church rules whereby to finde out which are true traditions and which are not For first I doe not say that custome of the church obseruing a thing is a proofe that that thing which is so obserued was deliuered frō the Apostles but such a custome whereby a thing hath beene obserued from the beginning So that though the Popes had beene supreame in power and commaund before the Nicene Councell which all the Papists and diuells in hell shall neuer proue yet would it not follow that this their supremacy were by tradition from the Apostles Secondly I doe not make the testimony of an Apostolicall church to be a rule whereby to know true traditions from false as hee is pleased to bely me but I disclaime it in the very place cited by him My words are these The third rule whereby true traditions may bee knowne from false is the constant testimony of the Pastours of an Apostolicall church successiuely deliuered to which some adde the present testimonie of any Apostolicall Church but this none of the Fathers admit neither doe I The Churches of Corinth Ephesus and Rome are Apostolicall Churches whatsoeuer their Pastors haue successiuely deliuered as receiued from the Apostles is vndoubtedly Apostolicall but not euery thing that the Pastours of those Churches that now presently are shall so deliuer seeing they are contrary the one to the other in things of great importance Thirdly whereas he saith I acknowledge vnwritten traditions to bee of equall authority with the Scriptures he is like himselfe For I neuer acknowledge that there is any matter of faith of which nature the Popes supremacy is supposed to be deliuered by bare tradition and not written but say onely if any thing may be proued to haue beene deliuered by liuely voyce by them that wrot the Scriptures there is no reason but it should be of as great authority as if it had beene written Two more allegations there are yet behind in this chapter that concerne mee The first that I say and Protestants generally agree with mee that the Regiment of the West Churches among which this nation is belonged to the Pope of Rome It seemeth this man hath a great desire I should say so and some hope I will say so But I protest as yet I neuer wrote any such thing and therefore here againe hee referreth his Reader to no page of my Booke as in other places but citeth it at large wherein he sheweth more wit then honesty for it is good to put a man to seeke farre for that which can no where be found But what if I had said the Bishop of Rome was Patriarch of the West would that proue an vniuersall power ouer the whole Church or such a kind of absolute authority ouer the Churches of the West as in latter times by vsurpation hee exercised ouer them Surely I thinke not But saith hee Doctour Downame saith before the grant of Phocas the Church of Rome had the superioritie and preeminence ouer all other Churches excepting that of Constantinople and Doctour Field telleth him absolutely that the title of Constantinople was but intruded and vsurped and when the first Nicene Councell gaue such honour to the Romane Church there was not so much as the name of Constantinople This is the last allegation that concerneth mee in this chapter The place that hee citeth is neither to bee found in the first booke of the Church quoted by him nor any where else For I no where euer say that the councell of Nice gaue supreame commaunding authority ouer all the Churches to the Bishop of Rome but only that it confirmed the distinct iurisdictions of the three Patriarches of Rome Alexandria and Antioche And touching the title of Constantinople where of he speaketh if hee meane the title of being vniuersall Bishop it is most true that it was intruded and vsurped as also the like is at this day by the Bishops of Rome which Gregorie their predecessour disclaimed thinking it intollerable that one man should subiect to himselfe all the members of the body of Christ which is his Church But if hee meane the title of being a Patriarch in order the second hauing equall priuiledges with the Bishop of Rome farre be it from me to thinke it was intruded or vsurped or to condemne the acts of the Councels of Constantinople and Chalcedon two of those foure which Saint Gregorie receiued as the foure Gospels as the Romanists doe because they gaue priuiledges to the Bishop of Constantinople equall to those of the Bishop of Rome Nay hereby it appeareth to be true that S. Hierome was wont to say Orbis maior est vrbe For after that Constantinople before named Byzantium was enlarged by Constantine named after his name and made the seate of the Emperours though the very name of it was not at all heard of in the time of the Nicene Councell yet in the second generall Councell holden at Constantinople the Bishop thereof was made a Patriarch and set in order and degree of honour before the other two of Alexandria and Antioche and in the great Councell of Chalcedon where there were more then 600 Bishops assembled he was again confirmed in the dignity of a Patriarch and to haue equall priviledges with the Bishop of Rome Against this decree they that supplyed the place of Leo in the councell resisted and Leo himselfe would by no meanes admit that the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioche claiming from Peter the one because Marke was there placed by him the other for that in person he abode there for a time should be put lower and the Bishop of Constantinople who had not like pretence to sit aboue them Yet the Fathers of the councell not so much respecting the claime from Peter as the greatnesse of the city and thinking it was the greatnesse of the city of Rome during the Emperours presence there that caused the Fathers formerly to giue honour to the Bishop of that city supposed they might now for the same cause giue like honour to the Bishop of Constantinople being become equall in state and magnificence to olde Rome and named new Rome as euery way matching it and howsoeuer the succeeding Bishops of Rome stroue a long while about this matter yet in the end they were forced to yeeld and to take the Bishops of Constantinople for Patriarches in degree of honour set before the other two CHAP. 4. IN this chapter hee endeavoureth to proue by testimonies of Protestants that all bookes receiued for Scripture by the Romane church are canonicall and herein are two things that concerne me The first that the Romane church being the spouse of Christ his true church and pillar of
truth whose communion we must embrace follow her directions rest in her iudgement liuing and dying therein to haue eternall life men might here by my censure and advice confine themselues and wade no further in so many intricate controversies of religion the second that I am or must bee of opinion that all those bookes which the church of Rome receiued for canonicall are indeede canonicall For answere to the former of these allegations First I professe before God men and Angels that I neither do nor euer did thinke the present Romane church to be the true church whose communion wee are bound to embrace but an hereticall church with which we may not communicate Secondly I professe in like sort that though I did and doe acknowledge the church wherein our Fathers liued before Luthers time to haue beene the true church of God in respect of the best and indeede the principall parts thereof which held a sauing profession of the truth in Christ howsoeuer many and they greatly prevailing erred damnably yet I neuer thought it to be that church in whose iudgement we are to rest without any farther doubt or question nor that it was safe to follow the greater part of the guides and rulers of it but the church in whose iudgement wee must absolutely and finally rest is that whole and entire societie of Holy ones which beginning at Hierusalem and filling the world continueth vnto this day To refuse the iudgement of this church or to resist against any thing deliuered ab omnibus ubique semper in all places at all times by all Christian pastors and people not noted for heresie or singularitie were extreame folly and madnesse so that as I noted in answer to the first chapter out of Waldensis it is not any particular church as the church of Africa nor the particular Romane church but the vniuersall church not gathered together in a generall councell which hath sometimes erred but the whole catholique church dispersed through the world from the baptisme of Christ vnto our times which doth vndoubtedly holde the true faith and faithfull testimony of IESVS and in whose iudgement we must absolutely rest without any farther question oâ—… doubting and hereunto agreeth t Vincentius Lirinensis prescribing this course to bee followed in matters questioned touching faith and religion If errour creepe into one part of the Church we must looke vnto other that still are sound and pure if into almost the whole present church we must looke vp higher into former times and the resolutions of them that haue beene since the Apostles times Thus I hope the Reader will easily perceiue that this first allegation is friuolous For I doe not thinke the present Church of Rome to be the true church of God whose communion we must embrace nor that the particular Romane church when it was at the best was that church in the judgement whereof we are absolutely to rest and therefore let no man confine himselfe here without farther wading into particular controuersies but let euery man as he tendreth the saluation of his owne soule looke to the judgement of other churches also and to the resolutions of former times Now let vs proceede to his second allegation concerning canonicall and apocryphall bookes of Scripture His words are The Protestant surueyor of the Communion-booke affirmeth plainely that the Protestants of England must approue for Canonicall all those bookes which the Romane Church doth and Doctour Field is of the same opinion or must be for thus he writeth The ancient and true-beleeuing Iewes before the comming of Christ especially such as liued in Greece and nations out of Iury commonly called Hellenists receiued those bookes for canonicall Scripture It is well hee saith not absolutely that I am of that opinion but that I am or must be for he is well assured I am not but he knoweth how to force me to bee whether I will or not by falsly reporting my wordes and making me say that I neuer thought nor said For doe I any where say the ancient and true â—…euing Iewes before the comming of Christ receiued those bookes for canonicall especially such as were dispersed among the Gentiles No surely but the contrary namely that the ancient church of the Iewes did receiue those only as diuine and canonicall which we doe and not those other in question I am verily perswaded these men thinke lying to be no sinne for otherwise it were not likely that bragging so much of their good workes and trusting to the merit thereof they would wittingly runne so often into such a sinne as we silly men thinke it to be and as the spirit of God assureth vs it is being of the number of those that shut men out of the kingdome of God and Christ according to that in the Reuelation Without shall be dogges and inchanters and whore-mongers and murtherers idolaters and whosoeuer loueth or maketh lies But let vs see if hee deale not better in that which followeth Surely no hee is constant and euer like himselfe for hee saith Doctour Field writeth thus The ancient and true-beleeuing Iewes before the comming of Christ especially such as liued in Greece and nations out of Iury commonly called Hellenists receiued those bookes for canonicall Scripture and to vse his owne wordes Hence it came that the Iewes deliuered a double canon of Scripture to the Christian Churches Surely this is not to vse but to abuse my words For I was not so senselesse as to say the auncient and true-beleeuing Iewes receiued the bookes in question for Canonicall and that thence it came that they deliuered a double Canon of Scripture to the Christian Churches For if the Iewes generally had receiued all these bookes for canonicall but especially the Hellenists then they could not haue deliuered a double canon of Scripture but one onely Wherefore my words are not as hee reporteth them but hauing spoken of the 22 bookes of the old Testament I adde These onely did the auncient Church of the Iewes receiue as diuine Canonicall and that other bookes were added vnto these whose authoritie not being certaine and knowne are named Apocryphall fèll out in this sort The Iewes in their latter times before and at the comming of Christ were of two sorts some properly named Hebrewes commorant at Hierusalem in the holy land other named Hellenists Iewes of the dispersion mingled with the Grecians these had written sundry bookes in Greeke which they made vse of together with other parts of the old Testament which they had of the translation of the Septuagint but the Hebrewes receiued onely the 22 bookes before mentioned Hence it came that the Iewes deliuered a double Canon of the Scripture to the Christian Church the one pure indubitate diuine which is the Hebrew Canon the other in Greeke inriched with or rather adulterated by the addition of certaine other bookes written in those dayes when God raised vp no more Prophets among his people So that the
Iewes being of two sorts Hebrewes and Hellenistes The Hebrewes deliuered to the Christian church onely the 22 bookes of the old Testament whereof there is no question to bee the absolute rule and Canon of our faith and tooke no notice of the bookes now in question But the Hellenists deliuered with them these also that are questioned if not to be the canon of our faith yet to be a canon and rule of direction for matters of conuersation and manners and to bee read at least ad aedificationem plebis for the edification of the people though not for confirmation of matters of doctrine And truely I am perswaded it cannot bee proued that the Hellenists euer receiued these bookes in question as any part of the canon of faith or absolutely canonicall but in a sort only in that they containe a good direction of mens manners But saith hee D. Field speaking of this volume of the Hellenists addeth These bookes which are doubted of ioyned in one volume with those 22 whereof there is no question were translated out of Greeke into Latine and read by the Latine Church in that translation and intreating of Saint Augustine and the Latine Fathers especially in Africa and the third Carthaginian Councell writeth thus They reckon the bookes of Scripture according as they found them in vse in the Latine Church then Doctour Field hath absolutely granted that in the Latine Church vnder which England is these Scriptures were euer esteemed as Canonicall They seeme greatly to desire to end the controuersies betweene them and vs by publicke disputation and challenge vs in such sort as if we durst not shew our selues where they should appeare but surely if they performe no more when they come to disputing then they doe when they write nor bring no better arguments when they oppose in our schooles then they publish in their bookes the very boyes in our Vniuersities will hisse them out For how will this consequence euer be made good Augustine and the Africanes in the third Councell of Carthage reckon the bookes of Scripture as they found them joyned in one volume translated out of Greeke into Latine not exactly noting the difference that is betweene them and so seeme to admitte into the canon those bookes which wee reiect therefore the bookes which wee reiect were euer esteemed to bee canonicall in the Latine church seeing Hierome at the same time translating the Scriptures out of Hebrew exactly learning which bookes pertained to the Hebrew canon reiected all besides the 22 Hebrew bookes as the Grecians did before him and as after him almost all men of note in the Latine church did But hee will say Augustine and the Africanes found the bookes reiected by vs in vse in the Latine church as well as the other which wee admit to be canonicall therefore they were euer esteemed to be canonicall in the Latine Church vnder which England is This proofe is too weake for as I haue noted in the place cited by him the prayer of Manasses confessed by our Aduersaries to bee Apocryphall the third and fourth of Esdras and the booke called Pastor were likewise in vse in the Latine Church that is read by them of the Latine church cited by them in their writings and many things translated out of them into the publicke prayers liturgie of the church yet will it not follow that these bookes were euer esteemed as canonicall in the Latine church vnder which England was It is true indeede that Augustine when hee was blamed for citing some testimonies out of the bookes reiected by vs defended his so doing by the practise of the church which had anciently read the same in her publicke assemblies but not much pressing the authoritie of them saith hee can proue the things for proofe whereof he alleaged those bookes out of other that are not doubted of So that Caietanes opinion is not improbable that Augustine did not thinke these bookes to be absolutely canonicall but in a sort onely in that they containe many godly instructions and a good direction for mens manners That which hee addeth in the last place that these controuersed bookes being translated out of Greeke into Latine with the other originally written in Hebrew were in likelihood first deliuered by the Hellenists or Iewes of the dispersion to the Greeke Churches as being in Greeke amongst them is to no purpose For though we should graunt they were so deliuered all together yet they of the Greeke Church hauing an eye to the Canon of the Hebrewes put a difference betweene the one and the other and neuer accounted these to bee canonicall as I haue largely proued out of the testimonies of Melito Origen Athanasius Nazianzen Cyrill Epiphanius and Damascene Thus haue we examined the allegations of this chapter and found them very weake and frivolous CHAP. 5. IN the fifth chapter hee vndertaketh to proue that Protestants confesse the vulgar translation to bee the best and their own the worst But because he alleageth nothing to this purpose out of any thing that I haue written I will passe from this to the next not doubting but they who are wronged by him will make him know that he vndertaketh much and proueth little CHAP. 6. IN the sixth chapter wherein he vndertaketh to proue by the confession of Protestants that the true lawfull and iuridicall exposition of Scriptures is in the Romane Church not with the Protestants he endeauoureth to shew that I confesse so much His words are these D. Field confesseth that neither conference of places nor consideration of the Antecedentia Consequentia nor looking into the originals are of any force vnlesse we finde the things which we conceiue to be vnderstood meant in the places interpreted to be consonant to the rule of faith therefore hee confesseth that the warranted exposition of Scripture belongeth to the Romane church This consequence I deny as strange absurd wherefore let vs see if he make any shew of prouing it He addeth that I teach the rule of faith must be tryed either by the generall practise of the Church the renowned of all ages or the Pastors of an Apostolicall Church which as the world can witnesse no Protestant can make claime vnto as if from hence it would follow which is the thing he goeth about to proue or else he doth nothing that all warranted exposition of Scripture belongeth to the Romane Church Whatsoeuer become of the consequence of this argument there are many exceptions to be taken to the antecedent of it For first I doe not giue these three rules whereof he speaketh whereby to know the rule of faith but to know true traditions from false Secondly I do not say the generall practise of the Church the renowned of all ages the Pastors of an Apostolicall church are the rules whereby true traditions may be knowne from false but the generall practise of the church frō the beginning the report testimony of the most renowned
and so much to be desired yet if they cannot bee had the truth may be found out by other meanes yea haue not the Fathers in factious times complained that they neuer saw good end of any councell and yet were resolued in matters of the faith and able to settle others also CHAP. 7. IN this chapter wherein he indeauoureth to shew that traditions are of equall authoritie with Scripture and yet proue the Romane Religion he hath these wordes The dignity and authority of vnwritten and Apostolicall traditions being lawfully proued was euer esteemed such that M. Wootton affirmeth out of all question we are bound to keep them and telleth that M. Perkins was of the same minde This is an ill beginning for whereas he should proue that the Apostles deliuered some matters of faith by bare tradition without writing hee bringeth forth some that say if it could be proued that any thing was so deliuered it were to bee receiued with no lesse regard then if it had beene written which is as if a man should vndertake to proue out of Paules Epistles that the Angels in Heauen and the Apostles of CHRIST are to bee anathematized and accursed because hee saith If wee or an Angell from heauen preach any other doctrine then that yee haue receiued holde him accursed Wherefore to helpe the matter and to make some shew at the least whereas wee say If any thing could bee proued to haue beene deliuered by the Apostles by tradition it were no lesse to be esteemed then things of the same nature written by them hee citeth our words as if we confessed there were certaine vnwritten Apostolicall traditions which were euer esteemed equall with the Scripture but not before they were proued to bee such D. Field saith he speaketh of such traditions in these words There is no reason but these should be equall with Scripture for it is not the writing that giueth these things their authoritie but the worth and credite of him that deliuereth thē though but by word and liuely voice onely In this allegation he wrongeth me no lesse then in other before for these are not my words as he vntruely affirmeth against his owne knowledge but speaking of the diuerse kindes of vnwritten traditions imagined by the Papists I say All these in their seuerall kindes they make equal with the words precepts doctrines of Christ the Apostles and Pastors of the Church left vnto vs in writing neither is there any reason why they should not doe so if they could proue any such vnwritten verities for it is not the writing that giueth things their authoritie but the worth and credite of him that deliuereth them The onely doubt is whether there be any such traditions or not Is this to acknowledge that there are vnwritten traditions of equall authoritie with the Scriptures If one of his fellowes should tell him if he were Pope he could not erre would he inferre his fellow were so mad to thinke he could not erre that doth nothing else but erre and mistake all that he citeth But he saith I adde that the perpetuall virginity of our Lady was a tradition only receiued by such authority so do other Protestants that both they I acknowledge Heluidius was condemned of heresie iustly for denyall thereof which could not be except to deny the doctrine of true traditions were to deny the word of God in their iudgements This is an other notable and shamelesse falsification For I neither say the perpetuall virginity of our Lady was a tradition nor that Heluidius was condemned and that iustly for the deniall thereof but my wordes are The Canon of Scripture being admitted as deliuered by tradition though the Diuine trueth of it bee in it selfe cleare not depending of the Churches authority there is no matter of Faith deliuered by bare and onely tradition as the Romanists imagine The onely cleare instance they seeme to giue is touching the perpetuall virginity of Mary which they say cannot be proued by Scripture and yet is necessary to bee beleeued But they should knowe that this is no poynt of Christian faith That shee was a virgine before in and after the birth of Christ wee are bound to beleeue as an article of our faith and so much is deliuered in Scripture and in the Apostles Creede but that shee continued so euer after is a seemely trueth fitting the sanctitie of the blessed virgine and is de pietate but not de necessitate fidei Neither was Heluidius condemned of heresie for the deniall hereof but by such as thought it might bee proued out of Scripture or by such as detested and condemned his madnesse and desperate singularity in pertinaciously vrging the deniall of it vpon mis-construction of Scripture as if the deniall of it had beene a matter of faith And surely whatsoeuer this man thinke to the contrary Melchior Canus is of opinion that the perpetuall virginity of Marie the mother of our Lord is not beleeued onely or principally as deliuered by tradition but that the very consideration of the respect that was due to so sanctified a vessell of the incarnation of the Sonne of God as was her body would make vs perswade our selues shee neuer knew man after she was so much honoured as to be the mother of God This consideration no doubt moued the Fathers to be of this opinion rather then any tradition In the next place hee setteth downe my discourse and diuision of traditions approued by Protestants in the twentieth chapter of my fourth booke of the Church leaving out diuerse thinges in setting downe the same for his most aduantage as the Reader will easily perceiue if hee peruse the place But to what purpose hee produceth this discourse diuision of mine I know not For first if he thinke that I now yeeld more vnto thē in the matter of traditions thē our Diuines heretofore haue done as he seemeth to doe in that he saith though vntruly that I preuent and confute the vsuall objections of Protestants about the doctrine of traditions he is greatly deceiued For Chemnitius in his Examen of the Tridentine Councell admitteth all those kinds of traditions which I haue deliuered I will set down his discourse in his own words that the reader may see he saith fully as much as I haue done Primum genus traditionum est quòd Apostoli tradiderunt doctrinam viuâ voce sed illa postea in scriptura literis consignata est Secundum genus traditionum est quòd Libri Scripturae sacrae non interrupt â serie temporum sicut Augustinus loquitur certa connexionis successione ab Ecclesia custoditi fideliter ad posteros transmissi nobisque quasi per manus traditi sunt Tertium genus traditionum constituimus illud de quo loquuntur Irenaeus lib. 3. Tertullianus de Praescript Recitant autem quid sit illud quod ex traditione probant sunt illi ipsi articuli fidei
quos symbolum Apostolicum complectitur Illos autem in scriptura multis manifestis testimonijs tradi nullum est dubium Quartum genus traditionum est de expositione vero sensu seu natiuâ sententiâ scripturae Quintum genus traditionum constituimus illud quod Patres aliquando ita vocant illa dogmata quae non totidem literis syllabis in scripturâ ponuntur sed bonâ certâ firmâ manifestâ Ratiocinatione ex perspicuis scripturae testimoniis colliguntur Sextum genus traditionum constituimus illud quod de Catholico Patrum consensu dicitur Septimum genus traditionum est quod vbi Veteres mentionē faciunt traditionū non scriptarum propriè non intelligunt dogmata fidei extra praeter Scripturam recipienda etiamsi nullo Scripturae testimonio probare possunt sed de ritibus consuetudinibus quibusdam vetustis loquuntur quos propter antiquitatem ad Apostolos retulerunt Verisimile est quosdam etiam alios externos ritus qui in scripturâ annotati non sunt ab Apostolis traditos esse nullis quidem certis firmis documentis probari potest qui sunt ritus certò ab Apostolis traditi qui ex Scriptura ostendi non possunt These are the words of Chemnitius wherby it appeareth that he admitteth all those kinds of tradition which I doe and yet reiecteth the imagined traditions of Papists D. Whitakers likewise acknowledgeth that the Apostles of Christ ordained appointed in the Churches certaine rites and obseruations for order comelinesse which they did not commit to writing because they were not of necessity to bee perpetually obserued in one and the same sort but dispenseable according to the circumstance of times and places This hee proueth out of the first to the Corinthians the 11 and 14 chapters Secondly if hee thinke their erronious opinion touching traditions may be inferred from any thing that I acknowledge he seemeth to bee too weake in vnderstanding and not to know what the state of the question is betweene them and vs for the question is not whether there be any traditions or not but whether it being first supposed that the Prophets Apostles and other holy men of God left vnto posterities diuine and sacred bookes and it being agreed vpon which they ate they containe all things necessary to be knowne and practised by Christian men for the attaining of euer lasting life and saluation We say they doe Neither can he proue the contrary out of any thing written by me For I acknowledge nothing to haue beene deliuered by tradition but the bookes of Scripture things therein in some sort contained and certaine dispenseable obseruations not at all or hardly to be discerned from Ecclesiasticall constitutions Let vs see therefore what hee can conclude out of any thing that I haue written for the confirmation of the Romish errour To make saith hee a short reflexion vpon his doctrine by his first rule of traditions he must graunt vnto vs which I haue proued before at large that all those bookes which the Romane church approueth for Scripture together with the speciall doctrines of prayer for the dead to Angels c. are traditions For Doctour Field and his rules doe so assure vs. It seemeth my case is harder then I was ware of my danger greater then I supposed it had beene But what are those rules assigned by mee which assure vs that all the bookes approued by the Romane church are canonicall Haue they beene euer holden to bee so Haue the most famous in all ages or at the least in diverse ages constantly deliuered them vnto vs as receiued by them from those that went before thē no man doubting of them Did the Pastors of any Apostolicall church in the world successiuely deliuer them as canonicall to their after-commers He knoweth they did not For as I haue else-where proued Melito Bishop of Sardis Origen Athanasius Hilary Nazianzene Cyrill Epiphanius the Councell of Laodicea Ruffinus Hierome Gregory Damascene Hugo de sancto Victore Richardus de Sancto Victore Petrus Cluniacensis Lyranus Dionysius Carthusianus Hugo Cardinalis Thomas Aquinas Occham Picus Mirandula Waldensis Armachanus Driedo Caietane and all the most famous Diuines in all ages reiect them saue onely Augustine the third Councell of Carthage some few other who yet as Caietane thinketh receiued them not as absolutely canonicall but in a sort onely in that they containe a convenient good direction of manners The Reader I doubt not will easily see his folly in this point But it may bee the speciall doctrines of prayer for the dead and to Angels whereof hee speaketh will bee found Apostolicall traditions by those rules that I allow of Surely no for howsoeuer it was a most auncient and laudable custome of the church to remember the names of the dead at the holy Altar and Table of the Lord with desire of their and our finall consummation and publique acquitall in the day of CHRIST and some particular men doubtfuly extended the same practise and custome farther to the mitigating suspending or totall remouing and taking away of the punishments of Christian men dying in the state of mortall sinne yet the Popish opinion of Purgatory and prayer to deliuer men from thence were not once heard of in the Primitiue Church nor are yet receiued by the greatest part of the Christian world Touching prayer to Angels it was condemned by the Apostle Saint Paul the councell of Laodicea Augustine Theodoret but that the church did invocate Angels from the beginning that the most famous in all ages did teach men so to doe or the Pastors of any Apostolicall church successiuely one after another which are my rules he speaketh of neither hee nor any Papist liuing can euer proue The second thing he would inferre out of my words is that wee must of necessitie resort to the Romish church to know and learne the forme of Christian doctrine the explication of the seuerall parts thereof and the obscurities of Scripture for that I say the Apostles deliuered the forme of Christian doctrine as a tradition to posterities no posterity of Protestants can be of this posterity because both their priorities posterities deny traditions Thus then the good Author reasoneth The Protestants are none of those posterities to which the forme of Christian doctrine hath been deriued frō the Apostles by the line of succession therefore we must resort to the Roman church to know it The antecedent of this argument he proueth because as hee saith both priorities posterities of Protestants deny all traditions Surely the man cōmitteth so many faults in this one silly argument that I know not well what first to except against For neither is it consequent that if Protestants be not of that posterity to which the forme of Christian doctrine was commended and deliuered from the Apostles that we must of necessitie seeke to the Romane church to learne it Neither doe Protestants deny
adipisci dupliciter possunt res creatae aut in seipsis aut in ipso nam in seipso hoc bonum est super omnia exaltatum suae inhabitans diuinitatis abyssos per omnia diffusum in omnibus inuenitur vmbâ—…a potius foelicitatis quà m vera foelicitas est attingere Deum in creatura non in ipso Deo quemadmodâ—… creatura non summabonitas sed summae bonitatis id est diuinae tenuis vmbra est Vnde vera consummata foelicitas ad Deâ—… faciem contuendam quae est omne bonum vt ipse dixit ad perfectam cum illo principio à quo emanauimus v â—…em nos reuâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…dducit ad hanc â—…licitatem sola religio Christiana nos dirigit impellit Pi cus Heptaplâ—… lâ—… 7. in prooemio b Contra profanas haeret novitates c The Apostles wrote to them they had formerly taught more at large neither can the scriptures be vnderstood now but onely by such as will â—…ee taught by the successors of the Apostles and guides of the Church though being so taught they may finde assuredly by the scriptures themselues that they doe vnderstand them aright a Cont. 5. q. 4. art 2. explicat 〈◊〉 b Genesis 6. 2. c Tertul. de ivelandis Virg nibus Debet adumbrari facies tam periculosa quae vsque ad coelum scandola iâ—…culata est c. Iustinus Martyr Clemens Gen. 6. Dei filios qui hominum filias conspexerunt Angelos interpretanâ—… Andrad de script traditionum authoritate l. 2. fol. 262. d Andrad ib fol. 257. e Esay 53. a Andradius defens c. l. 2. fol. 257. et 260. b Caietan prooemio comment in Gen. c Iâ—… praefat in Novi Testamenti Syriaci Latinam interpret d Comment in Ioh. c. 1. a Iohn 10. 16. b Galat. 4. 22. c Illyrycus in claue Ser pturae de multiplici sacraâ—…um literarum sensu haec doctissimè tradit collecta ex varijs authoribus d 1. Sam. 17. 50. e Deut 25 4. 1 Cor. 9. 9. f Psal. 95 8. Hebr 4. 1. g Sixtus Sennens Bibliothecae l. 3. de vsu vtilitate historicae mysticae expopositionis h Intellectus sacri eloquij inter textum mysterium magna est libratione pensandus Multae enim eius sententiae tantâ allegoriarum conceptione sunt gravidae vt quisquis eas adsolam tenere historiam nititur earum noticiá per suam incuriam priuetur nonnulli verò ita exterioribus inseruiunt â—…t si quis eas subtilius penetrare desiderat intus quidem nihil inueniat sed etiam sibi quod foris loquuntur abscondat Greg. moral l 21. in cap. 31. cap. 1. i Iansenius in concordiam Evangel c. 52. fol. 402. k Math. â—…7 3. l Iudicum c. 9. m Cap. 14. n Revel 〈◊〉 o Occam l. 3. 〈◊〉 tract part 3. c. 19. p Not from ehe mysticall or spirituall senses aboue mentioned q Revel 1. 20. r Iohn 2. 19. 22. s Math. 24. 15 t In epist. ad Gal. in cap. 1. a Stapl. cont 6. q. 7. exp art b De causis difficultatis scripturae remedijs remed 2. a Iob. 19. 24. b Bellar. l. 4. c. 8. de verbo non scripto Non deâ—…unt inquit aliqui Catholicorum qui negant vllam fuisse traditionem non scriptam apud Iudaeos c Andrad defen l. 2. fo 125. d Moral l. 4. c. 2. e Aug. lib. 1. de consensu Evangelistaâ—…um cap. ult quicquid il le de suis factis et dictis nos legere voluit hoc scribendum illis tanquam suis manibus imperauit f 2 Pet. 1. 20. 21. g 1 Cor. 11. 23 h Illa verba quae audiuistiâ—… per diuinas Scripturas sparsa sunt inde collecta ad vnum redacta c. Aug. ad catechumenos lib. 1. de symbolo cap. 1. i Waldensiâ—… tom 3. titulo 7. cap. 63. traditiones apostolicas à purè ecclesiasticis iam temporis vastitate nescimus discernere k Concilium Nicen. can 20. The custome of ministring baptisme only at Easter and Whitsontide except in case of necessity was very general whereupon Leo reprehendeth the Bishops â—…f Sicilia for that contemning this tradition of the auncient they did baptise on the day of Epiphany l They proued it out of the 44. of Ezechiel 2. as Hiero. sheweth in his comment vpon this place Index biblicus in regijs biblijs vacabulo Maria multis scripturae locis significari perpetuam virginitatem Mariae ostendit m Bellar. de sacra baptis lib. 1. cap. 8. n We shall finde an vncertaintie touching the forme and words of forme of all those pretended Sacraments of mariage penance vnction and confirmation which in scripture are not 〈◊〉 vnto vs as sacraments o Canus lib. 3. c. 3. fundamentum 3. p L. 1. de sanct beatit l. 2. c. 12. de sanctorum imaginibus probat testimoniis scripturae imagines esse colendas q Lucae 2. 19. r Acts 20. 35 s Panopl l. 4. c. 20. t Tertul. Iraen Arnobius Papias Lactantius c. u Euseb. l. 3. c. 35. Pererius in Genesin l. 3. q. 5. ait errorem Chiliastarum quo multi veterum fuerunt implicati ab Asiae presbyteris esse proseminatum Iraeneus l. 3 advers haereses c. 39. persuadere studet Christum dominum annos prope 50 in terris vixisse idque probat vel eo potissimum argumento quod presbyteri Asiae Apostolorum discipuli id sibi ab Apostolis traditum docuerunt x Tom. 3. tit 7. c. 63. a Lib. 4. contra Donatistas c. 23. b De traditionibus l. 3. c. 4. a Aug Hieronym a De lib. canonicis l. 3. fo 287 b In prologo Galiato c Lib. Apocryphi appellantur non quòd habendi sint in aliqua auctoritate secreta sed quia nulla testificationis luce de nescio quo secreto nescio quorum praesumptione prolati sunt Aug. contra Faustum Manichaeum l. 11. cap. 2. d Andrad de lib. canonicis fol. 286. a Rom. 3. 1 2. b Cont. Appianum l. 1. Eusebius l. 3. c. 10 c Prefat in lib. Reg. d Damascen l. 4 orthodoxae fid c. 18 e Acts 6. 1. f Glossa ordinatia g Lyrani in eundem locum h Iudaeus Aquila Symachus Theodosion Iudaizantes haeretici sunt recepti Hier. praef in lib. Iobi i Concilium Carth. 3. can 47 k Innocentius Eâ—…uperio ep 5. cap. ult l Aug Hieron epist. 10. m De praedestinatione Sanctorum c. 14. n Bibliothecae sanctae l. 1. pag. 20. q In Synopsi o Eusebius l. 4. cap. 25. p Eusebius 6. c. 24. r In prolog explanat Psalmorum s De genuinis scripturae libris cygneorum carminum lib ad Seleucum de recta educatione t 4. Catechesision u Contra Epicur haeres 8. de mensuris ponderibus x In expositione Symboli y In prolog Galiato z In Iob. li. 19. cap. 17. a Eusebius li. 3. cap. 10. b De