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A00430 Catholique traditions. Or A treatise of the beliefe of the Christians of Asia, Europa, and Africa, in the principall controuersies of our time In fauour of the louers of the catholicke trueth, and the peace of the Church. Written in French by Th. A.I.C. and translated into English, by L.O.; Tradition catholique. English Eudes, Morton.; Owen, Lewis, 1572-1633. 1609 (1609) STC 10561; ESTC S101746 137,760 254

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mentioned is gathered that the Churches of the East and South and many of the Catholike Church of Rome doe hold with the Reformed contrary to the Councell of Trent That the faith which God giueth to the repentant is a firme assurance of saluation and consequently that whosoeuer hath this assurance hath the faith which God giueth QVESTION XIII Whether a man may attaine faith or confidence by his free will or doe workes proceeding from faith and such as are profitable vnto saluation by the same THE EAST CHVRCH IEremie It is of vs to chuse and will but it is of God to performe and bring it to effect And beeause that which is most excellent is of him S. Paul attributeth all vnto him imitating therein the custome of men As when we see a house built we atttribute all to the chiefe builder yet neuerthelesse all is not done by him but by the workemen and by the owner that prouided the stuffe but we attribute all vnto him because he hath layed the foundation and is the chiefeth builder In like manner is it here for so saith S. Paul also It is not in him that willeth neither in him that runneth which saying preuenteth two mischiefes the one that no man exalt himselfe for graunt saith he that thou runnest or that thou doest endeuour yet thinke not that which is well done is thine for if thou art not inspired from aboue all is in vaine It is neuerthelesse confessed that thou shalt attaine vnto the end of that which thou desirest because that thou runnest and because thou labourest For he said not simply that wee runne in vaine but that we runne in vaine if we thinke that all is of vs and make not God the principall partie for God would not that all should be from him least he should seeme to crowne vs for no seruice neither that all should be of our selues least we should happen to fall into a foolish opinion of our selues for if we be proud of the least part thereof because it is in vs howe much more should we be if we had all in our selues Item in recyting of S. Chrysostome To the end that the greatnesse of his benefits exalt the not behold how he doth humble thee that is saith hee by giuing grace through faith On the contrary side to the ende that free-will haue no preiudice hee hath also added that which is of vs And againe he hath taken it away for the same saith he is not of vs nay faith it selfe is not of our selues For if he had not called vs how could wee haue beleeued It is the gift of God The Anaphor of the Cophites And therefore O Lord wee thy vnprofitable seruants and miserable strangers whom thou hast vouchsafed to make administrators of thy holy mysteries not by reason of our righteousnesse for wee haue done no good on the earth c. Liturgia Ethiop Giue vs thy holy spirit to the ende that with a pure heart perfect loue and firme hope wee may be bold with confidence and without feare to pronounce that prayer which thy dearely beloued Sonne hath taught his holy Apostles THE LATINE CHVRCH THe Councell of Trent If any one say that the free-will of a man being moued and stirred by God doth not cooperate at all in assenting to God which moued and called it to the end that hee dispose and prepare himselfe to obtaine the grace of iustification and that he cannot consent if he would nay rather that he doth nothing at all as a thing without a soule and that he is onely a patient and no agent let him bee accursed Item If any one say that the freewill of a man hath beene so lost and razed out after the fall of Adam that it is a thing without a name or rather a name without a thing and to conclude That it is a fiction that Sathan hath brought into the Church let him be accursed THE REFORMED CHVRCH THe confession of the Saxons Those men that were well instructed haue alwaies distinguished outward discipline from the regeneration of the spirite which is the beginning of eternall life and haue taught that in man there is such a freedome of will to rule the externall motions of the body that those which are not regenerate may in some fashion accomplish that discipline which is an externall obedience according to the law But a man cannot deliuer himselfe from sinne and from eternall death by his naturall strength For this deliuerance conuersion of man to God is wrought by the Sonne of God which doth quicken vs through his holy spirit and the will hauing once receiued the holy spirit is neuer after idle or voide The confession of Ausburg Touching freewill the Churches doe teach that mans will hath some liberty to worke ciuill righteousnes and to chuse that which is conformeable vnto reason But it hath not the power to worke spirituall righteousnesse which is the righteousnes of God We confesse that all men haue free-will which haue the iudgement of reason neuerthelesse not such as that they are sufficient of themselues either to begin without God or to end without him in that which concerneth God but onely in the workes of this present life as well good as badde ANNOTATION SOme men doe thinke that the difference touching free-wil consisteth all in wordes which may be graunted because that the Romane Catholikes doe not hold any thing to be in a man that is regenerated which the protestants doe not confesse with them that is that it proceedeth either in all or in part from free-will But the difference is in this that the Protestants doe thinke it necessary that a man should haue an assured faith the which say they proceedeth in no wise from free-will nor by consequent from the workes that doe proceed from this faith for if it proceede totally from God it followeth that the effects ought to be imputed to him onely If the Latines would confesse that God giueth this confidence they should approue the opinion of the Protestants and indeede many doe so and therein are true Catholickes The Churches of Asia and Affrica which affirme that it is necessary to saluation to haue this confidence do also confesse that it commeth from God and therefore begge it of him and consequently denie therein free-will as the Protestants doe and are contrary to the Latines although that they doe not debate with them about it and though they know it not agree with the Protestants those Protestants I say which beleeue that the Grecians do contrary them as much or more then the Latines and so it is certaine that the fault is for want of vnderstanding the matter Now to comprehend well this thing a man must marke the propositions of the Patriarch Ieremie and explane them to the end he may gather his meaning by his owne discourse First he saith that a man hath power or ability to chuse the good as well as the euill
againe declare it that through the consecration of bread and wine all the substance of the bread is conuerted into the substance of Christ our Lord and all the substance of the wine into the substance of his blood And this conuersion hath the Catholicke Church conueniently and properly called Transubstantiation THE REFORMED CHVRCH THe Confession of Wittenberg We beleeue that the Eucharist is a Sacrament instituted by Iesus Christ himselfe and the vse thereof was recommended to the Church vnto the end of the world But because that the substance thereof is one thing and the vse another we will speake in order of them both Touching the substance of the Eucharist we beleeue and teach that the true body and blood of our Sauiour Iesus Christ is distributed in the Eucharist do reiect those that say that the bread and wine in the Eucharist are but signes of the body and blood of Christ being absent We doe also beleeue that the Almightie power of God is so great that hee may eyther bring to nothing the substance of the bread or change it into the body and blood of Christ but it cannot be proued by the manifest word of God that God exerciseth in the Eucharist any such absolute power and it appeareth that no such matter was knowne to the auncient Church But as when he speaketh of the Citie of Ierusalem portrayed vpon a bricke this same is Ierusalem it was not necessary that the bricke should be chaunged into the Citie of Ierusalem In like manner when he speaketh of the bread this is my body It is not necessary that the substance of the bread should be changed into the substance of the body of Christ But it sufficeth for the veritie of the Sacrament that the body of Christ be truely present with the bread yea rather the verity of the Sacrament requireth that the true bread remaine with the true presence of God For euen as for the truth of the Sacrament of Baptisme it is necessary that in the vse therof the water should be and remaine true water In like manner it is necessary in the Lords Supper that the bread in the vse therof be and remaine true bread because that if the substance of the bread were changed the veritie of the Sacrament remained not in his true nature The Confession of England We say that the bread and the wine are sacred and celestiall mysteries and that by them Iesus Christ the true bread of life eternall is offered vnto them that are present that doe receiue his body and blood through faith Neuerthelesse we say not that we beleeue that the nature of the bread and wine are wholly changed and reduced to nothing Liturgia Gall. Let vs lift vp our spirits and our hearts where Iesus Christ is in the glory of the father and from whence we looke for our redemption And let vs not dwell vpon these earthly and corruptible Elements which we see with our eyes and touch with our hands to seeke for it there as though it were inclosed in the bread or wine For then our soules shall be fit to be nourished and reuiued by his substance when they shall be eleuated aboue all terrestiall things to obtaine heauen and to enter into the kingdome of GOD where he dwelleth The Confession of the French men We do confesse that the holy Supper of the Lord is a testimony vnto vs of the vnitie which wee haue with Christ Iesus because that he is not onely dead and risen againe for vs but also nourisheth and feedeth vs truely with his flesh and blood to the end that we should be one with him and that his life should be our life And albeit that he be in heauen vntil such time that he shal come to iudge the world yet neuerthelesse we beleeue that through the secret and incomprehensible power of his spirite he nourisheth and quickeneth vs by the substance of his body and blood ANNOTATION ALl Christian nations do with one consent agree that the bread and wine of the holy Sacrament are conuerted into the body and bloud of the Lord. It is true which Alphon. de Castro saith that the Armenians haue heretofore otherwise beleeued but he sheweth not whether it was their auncient manner or whether any particular man brought it in amongst them As touching the Abyssins there is mention made oftentimes of transmutation in their Liturgie which they referre to the Apostles according to the subscription thereof But the Historiographers doe say that the said Abyssins were not Christians so long agoe as they make vs beleeue They report themselues to haue receiued the Christian faith by the Eunuch of Queene Candace and by Saint Matthew and Saint Philip But it is thought in these parts that in the fifteenth yeare of Iustinian Emperor of Constantinople Adad King of the Auxumites made a vowe to become a Christian if he got the victory against the King of the Omerites which hauing obtained he sent Embassadours to the Emperour Iustinian to haue Bishops sent to him which being come thither conuerted his people to the faith Both opinions may be true that is to say that Adad would haue receiued the faith and yet not after the forme of the other Ethiopians but rather after the East Church In like manner the French men receiued the faith vnder king Clouis the which faith notwithstanding was in Fraunce three hundred yeares before Likewise Great Britaine is said to haue receiued the Gospell by Ioseph of Arimathea Yet neuerthelesse the Romanes doe bragge that they conuerted the English men fiue hundred yeares after Howsoeuer it be the Liturgie of the Ethiopians came vnto them from the Sea of Alexandria as appeareth by the Greeke names which are inserted therein Aluares saith that they haue another so briefe that it was no sooner begun but it presently ended One might doubt whether this were not the auncientest If we had the bookes which the said Aluares saith that they haue in great number one might know whether they differ But howsoeuer it be it appeareth not that this beleefe of Transmutation was receiued in any place of the world as a new thing Now a daies it is a question whether the Fathers haue beleeued it or whether it be slipt in by little and little If the Latines and Greekes do alleadge proofes out of the Fathers the Protestants doe thinke them to be Hyperbolicall tearmes for to lift or moue mens soules to the worshipping of the Sacrament If the Protestants doe bring on the contrary side other proofes some will answere them that the Fathers did keepe close that beleefe for feare of giuing occasion to the Pagans to mocke them We will leaue these difficulties the Fathers are not in the worlde now to resolue vs But the Churches scattered through the vniuersall world are as yet to beare witnesse of the Tradition in this point as well as in others and to declare and explane their meaning to those that vnderstand it
alone is the cause and beginning as well of the Sonne as of the holy Ghost That which moueth the Latins to be so obstinate and to say that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the person of the Sonne is because they feare that otherwise men would feigne or imagine inequallitie in the persons And if the Father did not communicate to the Sonne the inspiratiue power he communicated not vnto him all that is in him but hee communicated vnto him all except the constitutiue propertie of his person Neuerthelesse the truth is that the Grecians confesse constantly the equality of the persons they say that the Father did communicate all to the sonne but they seeme to denie that that production is the action of the Sonne because that the Son doth not inspire but the person already begotten and resident in himselfe and they say moreouer that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is that the inspiration is one and the very selfe same action of them both the which neuerthelesse onght to be attributed to the Father alone because that he alone is the beginning The Latins do confesse all this that is to say that there is one selfe same inspiratiue vertue and consequently one selfe same inspiration which proceedeth from the Father yea euen in that that it is the action of the Sonne and that the Father and the Sonne doe inspire because they are both one for the essence is the foundation of the power although that it is the Persons that doe produce it It is as if one would search to know whether the light which shineth sometimes in the night time doth proceede onely from the Sunne or else as well from the Sunne as from the Moone A man should not doe amisse to maintaine both the one and the other I speake this yet not comparing the most holy mysteries with creatures as some for want of a more solid discourse are wont and would make men beleeue so I say this onely that there may be found Logomachies as well in the one as in the other The conclusion according to the intention of all the Churches seemeth to be that The Father as a person produceth the holy Ghost and as a Father begot the Sonne who through the inspiratiue vertue communicated produceth also the holy Ghost in such sort that the holy Ghost is said to proceede from the Sonne if one consider the action of the Sonne simply but if one haue regard to the beginning of the same he proceedeth from the Father only QVESTION XII Whether that the faith which God giueth be a sure and certaine confidence of saluation THE EAST CHVRCH IEremie Let vs approch to him which is without sinne entring into repentance with assurance Let vs come to Iesus which is most mercifull with full confidence not hauing an ill conscience or doubting any thing for hee that doubteth cannot approch with assurance Item Wee begge first the peace of our consciences and the saluation of our soules Peace is a thing most profitable or rather a vertue which is altogether necessarie for it is impossible that the troubled spirit should haue accesse vnto God THE SOVTH CHVRCH SAint Seuerus Alexandrinus Let vs approch with a pure heart and confidence of faith and let vs perseuere in the confession of our hope without declining for he that promised vs is faithfull Litourgie Aethiop Let this Bread and this Cup be effectuall vnto vs all that shall receiue it with Faith vnspotted Charitie vnfained perfect Patience firme Hope and Confidence THE REFORMED CHVRCH THe confession of Bohemia The repentant are taught to confesse their sinnes before those that haue care of their soules and to receiue of them absolution with confidence to inioy without doubt the remission of their sinnes The confession of Wittemberg Seeing God hath promised vs his mercy freely for his sonnes sake he requireth in that regard that we should abandon the doubtfulnesse of our flesh and conceaue a most certaine confidence in his mercy and to the end that might bee he hath placed our saluation not in the merits of our righteousnesse which is vnperfect but in the merits of his sonne Iesus Christ Item wherefore wee doe account that those which doe commaund vs to doubt of the grace of God doe not onely fight against the true beleefe of the Catholike Church but also doe prouide very ill for their soules health THE ROMAN CHVRCH THe Councell of Trent Albeit it is necessarie to beleeue that sinnes are not pardoned nor neuer shall be pardoned but freely through the mercy of God for the loue of Iesus Christ Neuerthelesse it must bee held that sinnes are not pardoned nor neuer haue bene par-pardoned to any which vaunteth himselfe of his beleefe and certainty of the remission of his sinnes and reposeth himselfe only vpon that although perhaps he be an vtter heretike and that in our time this vaine hope being farre from all pietie is preached with a great force against the Catholicke Romane Church And wee ought not to be assured that it must needes bee that those which are truly iustified without doubting any thing doe relie vpon themselues that they are iustified and that none can be absolued of his sinnes iustified but he that beleeueth for a certaintie that he is absolued and iustified and a little after for none can know by the certaintie of faith without all question of falshood that he hath obtained the grace and fauour of God ANNOTATION THe Councell of Trent saith that confidence is a vaine opinion a presumption a vice remote from all pietie and consequently the way to damnation The reformed on the contrary side doe maintaine that confidence is a Theologicall vertue and that faith whereof the Gospell maketh mention so often and is not hurtfull but rather aboue all things necessarie to saluation and that hee that repenteth ought to be assured that he is absolued before God especially then when he receaueth the Sacraments the seales of the remission of sinnes and at such time say the Greekes as one is possessed with the affection of him that said I haue hated iniquitie that is to say at such time as sinne raigneth no more in that man although it doth remaine in him Euery one seeth that this point is of importance for if the sayings of the Protestants be true it goeth very hard with the Romane Catholikes because that they follow the doctrine of the said Councell albeit not all and cast farre from them this hope as vaine and deceitfull and in so doing cannot be saued On the other side the reformed doe runne in hazard if they doe perswade themselues that this confidence commeth of diuine inspiration which in the decree of the Councell is a vice farre voide from all piety But because that this is not a place to debate vpon the reasons which are alledged on the one side and on the other it shall suffice to aduertise you that out of the passages before