place of Scripture explained the same way by all the Fathers For there are many places which none of them have touched and none which all have interpreted Nor will it suffice to say that they agree who have interpreted it and that the silence of the rest is to be taken for consent as if they must be supposed to consent who were ignorant of such interpretations or dead perhaps before they were made or as if the Antients were wont expresly to reject all interpretations different from their own or these might not be rejected or at least others proposed in those Books of the Fathers which are lost It is not enough therefore to have the consent of a few unless we be assured of the concurrence of the rest But granting that it is it cannot be denied that our Adversaries can collect nothing certain out of any place of Scripture if any one of the Antients have interpreted it otherwise Hence Alphonsus a Castro 2 Itaapertum indubitatum ut nullus ex sacris probatis Doctoribus illud in aliquo alio sensu interpretetur juxta quem non possit talis propositio per illud de haeresi convinci Castr de justâ haeret pun lib. 1. cap. 4. requireth that among the necessary qualifications of a Text of Scripture to be produced for the conviction of Hereticks this be the chief that it be so plain and undoubted that none of the sacred and approved Doctors interpret it in some other sence according to which such a proposition cannot be thereby convinced of Heresie But if this be true how few places will there be of whose sense we may not doubt Certainly there are very few explained the same way by all antient Commentators This Christopher Gillius 3 Multa sunt in sacris literis quorum sententia neque ex Traditione neque ex Ecclesiae definitione habetur neque semper communis Sanctorum sententia reperitur vel quia diversa sentiunt vel quia pauci locum aliquem interpretati sunt Gill. de doctr sacrâ lib. 1. Tract 7. cap. 6. Professor of Conimbria acknowledgeth who affirms many places to be in Scripture whose sense can be had neither from Tradition nor from the Definition of the Church neither yet can a concurrent explication of the Fathers be found either because they were of different opinions or because few explained the place And the Anonymous Writer of the Treatise of the Liberties of the Gallican Church 4 Pauca sunt Scripturae loca que S S. Patres varii variè interpretati non fuerint lib. 3. cap. 11. maintains that there is few places of Scripture which the Holy Fathers have not differently interpreted As will also manifestly appear to any one who shall consult those Interpreters that are wont to produce the expositions of the Antient Writers Hence the Readers may imagine to what a streight our Adversaries would be reduced if they were tied up to their own Laws and allowed to urge no other places of Scripture against us than what are unanimously interpreted by the Fathers A Specimen hereof may be found in Launoy where he weigheth the Texts of Scripture produced by Bellarmine for the Popes authority and shewing that they are diversly explained by the Antients concludeth thence that they are wholly ineffectual That the sense of Scripture cannot be learned from Tradition hence appeareth but neither is it taught any better by the Church At least She hath not yet taught it For how many Decrees of the Church is there about the true sense of Scriptures Decrees I say for not every simple explication or allegation of a Text is to be lookt upon as an authentick interpretation of it but only that which hath an Anathema affixed to the deniers of it or dissenters from it Of this kind I find but four or five in the Decrees of the Council of Trent and in those of elder Councils none at all For 1500 years the Church delivered not the sense of so much as one place whence may be judged both what a faithful Interpreter She is of the Holy Scriptures and how small an assistance we are to expect from her in obtaining the true sense of them CHAP. III. That Tradition is no better ground for the Papists Faith than Holy Scriptures THUS have we taken from our Adversaries the first and chief foundation of Divine Faith. The Second will be as easily removed I mean Tradition which may be considered two ways as well as Scripture either as it is in it self or as it is confirmed by the authority of the Church That it hath no force the first way considered Bellarmine 1 Scriptura Traditiones omnia planè dogmata nisi certissimi simus quae sit vera Ecclesia incerta prorsus erunt omnia Bell. de Eccles lib. 3. cap. 10. expresly acknowledgeth affirming that till we certainly know what is the true Church Scripture Tradition and all matters of belief are utterly uncertain That Bellarmin is in the right herein at least as to what concerns Tradition is manifest by these two reasons First that taking away the attestation of the Church it cannot be known that there is any Divine Traditions For laying aside that how shall we know that there is any unwritten Word of God derived down to us From Tradition that cannot be since we are now doubting whether there be any Tradition From Scripture That favours not Tradition but if it did it would avail nothing since as we shew in the foregoing Chapter Scripture according to our Adversaries cannot obtain belief till it be it self confirmed by Tradition and the Church Thus doth the truth of Tradition remain uncertain unless it be sustained by the Churches authority Gregory a Valentia 2 Sicut de authoritate ipsius Scripturae necesse per aliquam aliam certam authoritatem constare ita etiam de auctoritate Traditionis si ea quoque revocetur in dubium Val. Tom. 3. disp 1. quaest 1. punct 7. § 12. well knew this who puts Tradition into the same condition with Scripture neither being of authority when called in doubt unless confirmed by some other certain authority Secondly granting that it may be known that there are Divine Traditions it cannot yet without the authority of the Church be known which they are so many false dubious and suspected Traditions being carried about each of which pretends to the same Character of Divine Authority The testimonies of the Fathers will not help in this case since even their judgment is dubious and in many things it cannot easily be told what was their opinion Thus Valentia 3 Cum Traditio scriptis ferè Doctorum Orthod in Ecclesiâ conservetur quaestiones ac dubia moveri possunt de sensu illius sicut dubitatur saepe de sensu ac mente Doctorum Ejusmodi autem quaestiones per eandem ipsam Traditionem definiri satis non poterunt Val. loc cit confesseth that Tradition being conserved in the
Writings of the Orthodox Doctors is as dubious and uncertain as the opinion of those Doctors is and that the doubts raised concerning it cannot be defined by Tradition it self In like manner George Rhodius 4 Neque scire potero Traditionem aliquam esse veram nisi vivens regula id definierit Rhod. de fide quaest 2. Sect. 5. § 1. affirms that no Tradition can be known to be true unless some living Rule shall so define it But that this matter being of no small moment may be the more manifest we may observe that our Adversaries require two things to make the testimony of the Fathers worthy to be relied on First that they consent and secondly that they do not meerly propose what seems most true to themselves but testifie moreover that what they teach was either delivered by Christ or is of Faith or which is all one the opposite of it heresie If either of these fail then their testimony is not secure The first condition is required by many and particularly by Alphonsus a Castro 5 Quarta est omnium SS Doctorum qui de re illâ scripserunt concors sententia Castr de justâ haeret pun lib. 1. cap. 4. who enquiring out the ways whereby a proposition may be convinced to be heretical in the fourth place assigns the unanimous consent of all the Fathers who have written upon that argument The latter condition is made necessary by many more Driedo 6 Non quia Hieronymus sic vel sic docei non quia Augustinus c. Dried de Eccles Dogm lib. 4. cap. 1. 6. tells us the authority of the Fathers is of no value any otherwise than as they demonstrate their opinion either from the Canonical Scriptures or the belief of the universal Church since the Apostles times and that they do not always deliver their sense as matters of Faith but by way of judgement opinion and probable reason Stapleton 7 Non enim omnibus eorum dictis haec authoritas datur sed quatenus vel Ecclesiae publicam fidem referunt vel ab Ecclesiâ Dei recepta approbata sunt Stapl de princip doctr lib 7. cap. 15. writeth that this authority is not allowed to all the sayings of the Fathers but either as they relate the publick belief of the Church or have been approved and received by the Church Gillius 8 Testimonium Patrum vel Doctorum Scholasticorum communiter asserentium ali pâ—id ad fidem vel Theologiam pertinens simpliciter tamen non indicando esse dogma fidei esse debet argumentum firmum Theologo sed citra infallibilitatem fidei Gill. de doctr Sacrâ lib. 1. Tract 7. cap. 13. lastly grants that the testimony of Fathers and Doctors unanimously asserting somewhat pertaining to Faith and Divinity if they simply assert it and do with all tell us it is an Article of Faith ought to be a firm Argument to a Divine but without Infallibity of Faith. Both conditions are required by Canus 9 Can. Loc. Theol. lib. 3. cap. 4. and Bannes 10 Bann in 2. quaest 1. art 10. Si quod dogma fidei Patres ab initio secundum suorum temporum successiones concordissimè tenuerunt hujusque contrarium ut haereticum refutârunt who laying down Rules whereby true Traditions may be discerned from false both assign this in the second place and in the same words If the Fathers have unanimously from the beginning all along the Succession of their times held any Article of Faith and refuted the contrary as heretical Bellarmine and Gretser 11 Bell. Grets de verbo Dei lib. 4. cap. 9. give this for their fourth Rule When all the Doctors of the Church teach any thing by common consent to have descended from Apostolical Tradition either gathered together in a Council or each one a part in their Writings Suarez 12 Licet Patres vel Scholastici in aliquâ sententiâ conveniant non asserendo illam esse de fide sed judicium suum in eâ proferendo non faciens rem de fide quia semper manent intra mensuram authoritatis humanae Suarez de fide disp 2. Sect. 6. writeth that although the Fathers and Schoolmen agree in any opinion not asserting it to be of Faith But delivering their Judgment in it they will not make it to be of Faith because they remain always within the limits of humane authority Filliutius 13 quae unanimi consensu Patrum tanquam de fide proponuntur Fill. in Decal Tract 22. cap. 1. reckoning up the seven degrees of things pertaining to Catholick verity assigns the Sixth degree to those truths which by the unanimous consent of the Fathers are proposed to be of Faith. Martinonus 14 Certum est nullum ex S S. Patribus vel Doctoribus seorsim sumptum esse Regulam Fidei jam de eorundem simul sumptorum consensu distinguendum Vel enim loquuntur ex proprio sensu non asserendo rem tanquam de fide judicium suum de eâ proferendo sic non Regula Fidei Mart. de fide disp 8. Sect. 3. that none of the Holy Fathers or Doctors taken separately is the Rule of Faith nor all yet together conjunctly unless they assert their common opinion to be of Faith and not meerly propose their own judgment Lastly Natalis Alexander 15 Cum omnes Patres in eandem sententiam conspirant eamque propugnant ac proponunt ut Apostolicam doctrinam Ecclesiae dogma Catholi eâ fide credendum tunc eorum authoritas necessarium argumentum sacrae doctrinae subministrat Alex. saecul 2 p. 1022. affirms that when all the Fathers conspire in the same opinion defend it and propose it as Apostolick Doctrine and an Article of the Church to be believed by Catholick Faith Then doth their authority afford a necessary argument of Sacred Doctrine Thus far these Writers And that the rest do not disagree from them we shall soon be perswaded if we consider how unlikely it is that a greater infallibility should be allowed even to an unanimous testimony of the Fathers than to Pope or Council or both together or the present Universal Church All which our Adversaries grant may erre in those things which they simply affirm or teach and define not to be of Faith. It sufficeth not therefore either that many Fathers deliver an opinion as of Faith or that all should simply teach it but not affirm it to be of Faith. Now if these two conditions be observed How few Articles of Christian Faith shall we receive from Tradition For the Fathers seldom all agree and more rarely admonisheth us that what they teach is of Faith. So that if you take away all Articles wherein either of these conditions is wanting it may well be doubted whether any one will remain Certainly if our Controversial Divines should so far make use of this observation as to reject all testimonies of the Fathers
Synod Popes therefore as well as Councils may be drawn to decree against their Consciences No where is to be found invincible Constancy no where the desired Certainty CHAP. XVI That it cannot be known whether the Intention of the Fathers of the Council be right AS Lawfulness and Liberty are necessary to the constitution of an Infallible Council so is a right proceeding in it when constituted This consists in three things a good Intention an accurate Examination of the Question to be defined and a Canonical Conclusion Every one of these beget new scruples and perplexities of which in their Order First therefore it is required that the Bishops laying aside all Worldly Interests seek only the finding out of Truth the Glory of God and Edification of the Church For they cannot define Truth unless they know it Know it they cannot but either wholly by their own Sagacity and Industry or by the Assistance and Illumination of the Holy Ghost The first way must be and is acknowledged to be fallible by our Adversaries who therefore fly to the second and impute all the certainty of Conciliar definitions to the direction of the Holy Ghost Hence the Mass of the Holy Ghost and the Hymn Veni Creator Spiritus is wont to precede every Session of Councils and this Title presixed to their Decrees The Holy Vniversal Synod Lawfully Assembled in the Holy Ghost and oftentimes that other It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us which supposeth the Council to be directed and assisted by the Holy Ghost But can we imagine that Holy Spirit illuminates their Minds whose Hearts he doth not sanctifie and inflame with love of Truth and zeal of Divine Glory He inspireth not Souls defiled with Sin and addicted to worldly Considerations So the Author of the Book of Wisdom 1 Sap. I. 4 5. For into a malicious Sould Wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the Body that is subject unto sin For the Holy Spirit of Discipline will flee Deceit and remove from Thoughts that are without Vnderstanding and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in Our Saviour promiseth the knowledge of his Truth only to those who by Piety and the Love of Heavenly things have sitted their Minds for the reception of it So he tells the believing Jews 2 John VIII 31 32. If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free And in another place 3 John XIV 21. He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him The like saith David 4 Psal XXV The meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way And a little after The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant And St. Paul speaking of them that received not the love of Truth that they might be saved saith 5 2 Thef II. 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lye And in another place 6 1 Tim. I. 19. asserteth that some having put away a good Conscience made shipwrack in the Faith. These places cannot be eluded by saying they speak of a Practical and not a Speculative Knowledge of the Truth For besides that this can by no means be apply'd to the two last places I cannot see with what appearance of reason God can be said to promise Knowledge of Truth to those that love him fear him and to the meek who by being such must be supposed to have had it before A Theoretical therefore or more clear and distinct knowledge of the Truth is to be understood to be here promised to Vertuous and sincerely Pious Persons Whence it cannot be supposed the same by the ordinary Law of Divine Government is granted to prophane and wicked Bishops in a Council if there be any such as none denieth such may be This St. Chrysostom asserts when upon those words Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them he saith 7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Matth. Homil. 60. What then are not two or three gathered together in his name Yes but very rarely For he doth not only mention a Meeting a Synod or require that alone but together with that requireth others Vertues and that with great exactness and in the first place Nicholas de Clemangis 8 Illos quomodo audiat aut visitet aut illustret qui sibi adversantur illumque cum in se nâ—n possint in â—liis extinguere nituntur qui pro igne charitatis ardore sunt ambitionis indammati Clem. in disp cum Schol. par proveth the same thing largely and accurately He affirms the first four Councils were for no other reason had in so great Honour than because they consisted of holy and pious Men and denieth that wicked Men are directed by the Holy Ghost For how should he hear visit or illustrate them who resist him and endeavour to extinguish him in others when they cannot in themselves who instead of the fire of Charity are enflamed with the heat of Ambition He observeth also That the Fathers of Ancient Councils used to begin their Sessions with Fastings Prayers and Tears Which would have been unnecessary saith he if they had been certain they could not err nor be deceived in their Vndertakings nor be defrauded of their desire for want of due preparation and disposition The Presidents of the Council of Trent were perswaded of the truth of this For in the beginning of the Council they penned an Admonition which they commanded frequently to be read wherein they exhorted the Fathers to be touched with a true and lively sense of the Sins that occasioned so many Evils 9 Nisi haec bene cognita perspecta fuerint frustra intramus in concilium frustra invocamus Spiritum Sanctum c. Haec sunt quae contristant repellunt quem invocaâ—imus Sp. S. sine quo nihil omnino facere poterimus quod ad bonum pacem Ecclesiae cedat that otherwise in vain was the Council celebrated in vain the Holy Ghost invocated For that he how greatly soever intreated would not be present That Repentance and Reformation of Life was absolutely necessary to obtain the assistance of that Holy Spirit who had formerly refused to give any Answer to the Jews consulting him in the Prophet Ezekiel because of their Abominations that they must necessarily abstain from those things which are wont to corrupt the love of Truth and deprave the Judgment as all Passions and perturbations of the Mind Anger Hatred Favour or the like For these are the things which grieve and drive away the Holy Ghost whom we have invoked without whom we can do nothing that may tend to the good and peace of the Church Hence may be noted the shameless folly of