deuice of man whatsoeuer Now if the doctrine of our saluation were written but in parte how shal we do for the rest which is wanting Saint Iohn doth not speake so scantly of the holy scriptures as these Romish mē do For he saith that the thinges Ioan. 20. which hee hath written are written to this ende that we beleeuing them might haue life that is saluation for that is life indeede Then is there no other doctrine necessarie to saluation but that which is written in the holy scriptures And that which is written in the holy scriptures suffiseth vnto saluation Saint Paul teaching vs what the vse of the scripture is teaching vs all I say in the person of his scholer Timothie 2. Tim. 3. saith that they doe make the man of God not onely euery faithful minister Pastor but euery faithful man perfect and fully perfited Then a mā nedeth not any vnwritten verity or traditiō as they are called Apostolike Yet I do not deny but that there haue beene alwayes vnwritten traditions touching order and manner of doing in the church but not so in poyntes of doctrine touching faith and saluation Nowe because men haue long time abused the name of tradition we must learne to knowe which are traditiōs to be allowed receiued and which are not to be allowed This is easie to be done if we will set before vs some pointes by them frame our iudgement First we must put a iust difference betwen doctrine and matter of rites and orders of the church In doctrine the Apostles deliuered in the worde by them written onely and wholy all that which they had rceiued of the Lord. To this then I adde that if the traditions offered to vs be agreeable to the worde of God and are meete and fit for edifying then are they to bee receiued For this is a thing assured that niether the Apostles nor the true Pastors did appoynt any orders or maners of doing which were either directly or indirectly contrarie to the doctrine of the gospell nor such as should turne any man neuer so little from the seruice of God which is spiritual This being obserued of vs it shal be easie for vs to discerne the doctrin frō traditions and the false traditions frō the true It was accompted with the old father Tertullian a very straunge thing that any man should say that he had omitted to teach any thing either by word of mouth or by writing of that which doth apertain to our saluation I will say further that all that which the Apostles did deliuer as traditiōs in matter of order rites maners of doing are not to be kept perpetually For according to the rule of charitie they ordeined touching the strangled not to eat blood Act. 15.29 conforming their tradition herein to the infirmitie of the Iewes Some like thing may be noted in the doings of S. Paul in the person of Timothie Act 16.3 Act. 18.18 yea and in him selfe also which thinges can haue no place at this day but onely in this that the generall rule must be obserued that wee must apply ourselues to the commoditie profite of our neighbour in those thinges which are indifferent The like thinges may bee gathered touching the traditions and manners of doing which they applyed to their time As where he speketh of kissing and of hauing the heade vncouered in signe of authoritie 1. Cor. 16. 1. Cor. 11. which are thinges contrarie to the manner of doinges in these dayes in many coūtries where men woulde count it very straunge that men shoulde kisse one an other or that a man should kisse any womā other than his own wife And also to speake at this day with the head bare and vncouered is a signe and token of subiection not of authoritie All these thinges are well to be considered before wee doe receiue any custome or tradition as Apostolike For the name of the Apostles is not to bee abused to trouble the Church in any thing as it was abused in the controuersie about the keeping of the day of the Pasque which wee call Easter And likwise when some abused the name of the Apostles and the authoritie of the Church of Hierusalem Actes 15. labouring vnder this pretence to mingle Iudaisme with Christianisme as it is written in the Actes of the Apostles There it was ordeined that the consciences of men shoulde not be charged with any such yoke Wee can not thinke therfore that the Apostles did inuent so many ceremonies as are nowe vsed in the obseruation of which is set the forgiuenes of sinnes and merites For they haue plainely protested the contrarie neither woulde they giue place to the ceremonies of Moses of which God him selfe was the author Long agoe did Augustine complayne of the multitude of ceremonies Ep. ad Ianuarium and humayne traditions brought into the Church But what would he haue saide if hee had liued in such a time as ours is To be short therefore we do require that the holy scriptures which are in this point most plain cleare may guide vs to discerne betweene the traditiōs which are good and which are badd holy and prophane hurtful and profitable necessarie and superfluous These thinges being decided it shall be easie to determine this question touching traditions and so wee may come to touch a seconde question which is dropped downe to vs from Rome Whether the church be aboue the scriptures that is whether the church bee aboue the scriptures which is as vnhandsome a question as if one should aske whether the child be aboue the father the scholer aboue the schole-master the wife aboue the husbande or man aboue God But indeede the true church of Christ will not in this matter make any quarrel against god For if it shoulde it shoulde fall in the quarrell and be condemned It is to no purpose to say that the church was before the scriptures For though it were so yet the word of God is more auncient than the church For by the worde the Church is conceiued engendred made named the church That which doeth ingender is before the thing that is ingendred as the father and mother are and haue their beeing before the childe Some will alleadge the saying of Augustine I shoulde not beleeue the scriptures if the authoritie of the Church did not moue me In that place Augustine speaketh of himselfe as he was when he was a Manichee When two contrary parts shal fal into debate touching the truth of an Instrument or writing to whō shall they haue recourse but to the Notarie which keepeth the recorde But yet it will not bee saide that the writinge is grounded vppon the authoritie of the Notarie for that the recorde is true although no man liuing doe beare witnesse thereof So I aunswere them which doe thinke that the holy scripture is not otherwise founded but vppon the determination of the church This verily were a
the substantiall pointes of trueth touching our saluation shall alwayes be buryed in the whole church but the Lord will haue alwayes some number in it sometime litle sometime great which shal vnderstand that which they ought to vnderstande and follow that which they ought to followe So did it come to passe in the time of the Prophet Eliah in Israel and in the captiuitie of Babylon and also in the time of the comming of our sauiour Christ For euen then was founde a number though but a litle number of them whose hearts were touched with the knowledge and taste of trueth as Zacharie Elizabeth Iohn the Baptist Ioseph the virgin Marie Simeon Anna. These did knowe and had the right and sure vnderstanding of the certein fulfilling of the prophecies of the comming of the promised Sauiour And yet they liued in the midst of the corruptiōs of the Scribes Pharisees Sadduces priestes Such interruptions of open professing the trueth happen in the church of God proceeding of the iniquitie of men as a thick mist which after vanisheth away by the heat of the Sunne of the doctrine I meane of the worde of God when it pleaseth God according to his secrete ordinance iudgement wisedome to suffer the same Sunne of his worde to shine foorth with power maiestie then trueth is seen embraced professed of the elect children of God Thinke you now that we will or that we doe reiect al the old Councels Nay verily but this I say that if all the rules giuen in the eldest best of them were put in execution at this daye they woulde make a greater change in the popish or Romish church called catholike than they would or could doe in the church which is nowe reformed by the gospell of Iesus But let the holy word of God be the touchestone to trye examine all that is sayde or done in the church and then it will be easily seene where the true church is Count not this a straunge thing that I require For it is an olde saying receiued before our times of the most catholike doctors Augustine writing to Maximinus the Arrian Li. 2. ca. 14 Is there any generall Councell more allowed or approued than that first Councell which was holden at Nice I trowe not sayeth he And what is that Councell which was holden at Ariminum It was a Councell reiected condemned for good cause Augustine there handleth a principall point of our Christian faith that is the diuinitie of Christ our Lord Sauiour And yet Augustine saith that for his part he wil not be boūd to the Nicene councell neither wil he haue the Ariā bound to the Councell holden at Ariminum but he wil haue the matter tried by the holy scriptures which are the meetest witnesses for both partes It may be that these Romish mē which doe runne away from the scriptures will say that there is great darknesse in the holy scripture I answere that it is most true which saint Paul saith that the naturall man perceiueth not the thinges of the spirite of God 2. Cor. 2. It is true also that saint Peter sayth 2. Pet. 1. that no prophecie in the scripture is of any priuate interpretation But yet this obscuritie is not so great but that the scriptures can expound them selues And therfore doeth our Lord and chiefe master Iesus send vs to the scriptures to nothing else but to the scriptures Search you the scriptures sayth he Ioan. 5. Luc. 16. Abraham beeing required by the damned rich man to sende some one frō the dead to admonish his brethren which yet liued in his old house answered thus They haue sayth Abraham Moses and the Prophets If they will not beleeue them they will not beleeue any that shall come to them from the dead And howe did all those moste auncient and godly Christians before vs which had among them only the scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles before that any commentarie or explication was written vppon any of them by the olde writers did they not then fetche all their light of the holy scripture onely A Romish man will here drawe vs to receiue the traditions Apostolicall for a moste sure interpretation of the holy scripture Traditions And by Apostolicall traditions he wil meane that which hath beene always receiued in the church through all the church and by them all which haue beene of the church But nowe who can assure vs that these three pointes are to be founde in any of these traditions which they do call Apostolicall traditions I doe not knowe who can doe it There is great diuersitie to be founde in the bookes and writings of the auncient fathers and that in some pointes touching faith And againe touching these wordes alwayes and of all let the Romish men tell vs at what time wee shall begin the account of this alwayes If wee will do well wee must fetch the beginning of this time euen at the church Apostolike And who shall be the firste in this account verily the Apostles them selues must be the first that shal begin this account the historie of whome is faithfully written by S. Luke and by their owne writings wee must take knowledge of them their doctrine and their doings All trueth commeth of God And God hath chosen his Prophets and Apostles to speake in his name vnto vs all that trueth which doeth appertaine to our saluation Therefore wee must alwayes haue and make our recourse to the holy scriptures And yet wee doe not vtterly cast away the aduice of Councels nor of the auncient fathers Wee doe proue that which they do saye by the holy scriptures The which holy scriptures as Augustine doeth saye truely are so tempered by the holy spirite of God that that which is obscurely spoken in one place is clearely expressed in another place of them Some of the Romish rout haue sayd that the whole wil of God touching all that which doeth appertaine to our saluation is not all written by the Apostles and Euangelists By this wicked false saying they make an open way to bring in al that falsehood error vntrueth which men list to deuise And it is the way by which Satan hath entred to destroy the vineyard of the Lorde to sowe therein his darnell of damnation and cockle choking true doctrine and Christian faith I graunt that before the time of Moses God gouerned his church by heauenly visions inspirations and reuelations But the Apostles planted the churches of God by his holy worde written And the malice of men growing with the number of them and the better sort of men decaying together with goodnes it was the good pleasure of the Lorde our God that this doctrine shoulde be written in a tongue common and knowen by which plaine trueth Gods children might receiue all that doctrin which concerneth saluation and might also withstand all subtilties creeping in vnder the couler of traditions or reuelations or custome or other
feeble a slender ground For we shal find the determinations of councells which are called the church representatiue one contrarie to an other as by conference of them together it will appeare Herevnto I will adde this reason Iesus Christe is hee whome all the true Prophetes honoured for as their Lorde he did send thē and yet they are not aboue him but he aboue them notwithstāding he doth approue his doctrin by their testimonies S. Paul suffereth the Bereites to do the like with his doctrin Act. 17. S. Peter prayseth greatly this kinde of doing 2. Pet. 1.19 Therefore they which doe call themselues the Vicars of Iesus Christ the successors of Saint Peter and Paul may not refuse this condition To this purpose serueth that which Hierome writeth We must not sayth he followe the errours of fathers nor of auncestours But wee must follow the authorite of the holy scriptures And Chrysostome writing vppon the 14. Lib. 2. in lir cap. 9. chapter of the gospell of Sainte Mathewe saith That hee which will knowe which is the true Church of Christ when thinges are in confusion through likelihoode hee must knowe it by the scriptures And in the same place vppon these wordes Hom. 49. Let them which are in Iurie flee vnto the mountaines he saith Let them which are in the christianitie retire and drawe them selues to the holy scriptures For when the time is such that heresie doeth possesse the Churches so that one cannot haue by or in the church any sure or certaine tryall to prooue which is true christianitie there can bee no other refuge to such christians as are desirous of the christian faith but only to the scriptures whosoeuer then will not know which is the true church of Christe how shal he know it but only by the holy scriptures saith this ancient father Againe he saith The Lord knowing that great confusion should come in the later dayes doth commaund that the christians which doe desire to take some holde of true faith should haue their refuge to nothing but to the holy scriptures For otherwise if they will haue regard to other thinges they shall be offended and perishe not vnderstāding which is the true church and so shall fall into the abhomination of desolation which wil hold it self in the holy place of the Church An other olde greek writer Basil I do meane in the nienth Summe of his moralls Cap. 22. saith If all that which is not of faith be sinne as the Apostle saith and faith commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God then all that which is out of the diuine holy scripture is sinne Againe in a Sermon which hee maketh of the confession of faith If God be faithfull in all his purposes and his cōmandementes be sure for euer being done in trueth and right it is manifestly to turne from the faith and a sinne of pride to throwe any thing away of that which is written or to bring in any thing which is not written Thus much in answere to that which our Romish rufflers do bellowe for their church the power and glorie thereof And to shewe what a christian may and ought safely to thinke of the church and how to giue humble credit to the holy scriptures and to giue to them their due authoritie To this Oration made and pronounced in that Colloquie had at Poyssi by that singular instrument and seruant of God Theodore Beza the Papistes and their capitayne the Cardinall did not reply For I thinke they had not the hartes to withstand the trueth Yea they were so far from denying of it that euen then and there their chiefe doctor Despense was in approbation thereof content to saye that hee did allowe that in generall which was sayde in this Oration of the church and saide that hee had alwayes taken this for a wicked blasphemie that some doe say that The church is aboue the holy scriptures But touching that which was in this oration saide of the ordinarie succession of Pastors hee was not yet fully satisfied He added that he did not take the pastors of the Churches reformed by the Gospell to be lawfull ministers because they had not the handes laide on them by the Bishops To this the doctor was aunswered then Impositiō of handes and thus That there are markes of the lawfull calling of Pastors of which some are substantiall and may not bee omitted others may Substantiall things not to bee omitted are these First that the person admitted into the ministerie bee appointed to doe that office wich is enioyned the minister of Christ in his church by the worde of God which is to preach truely the doctrin of Iesus and sincerely to administer the holy sacramentes Agayne that before his admission he bee tryed and examined howe fitt and able hee is to doe this worke of the Lorde and so he must by tryall be founde able in doctrine and of a godly conuersation of life Thirdly that then hee be chosen to the office by forme and order of a lawefull election But as touching imposition of hands it doth concerne but an externe forme and serueth as it were but to put him in possession and vse of the holy ministerie it doth not make him a minister it is not of any such force Hierome writing against the Luciferians saith expressely that the imposition of handes is not of necessitie prescribed by the law but it is a certaine honour done to the priesthoode Eliah and Samuel did both of them sacrifice and yet did not any of the ordinary priestes lay their handes on them It may be further saide in answere that if the romish maisters now wil needs haue vs to receiue impositiō of hands of them or else they will not take vs to be lawfull ministers they muste shew first that them selues are right and lawfull ministers of the gospell of Iesus But that they cannot do For touching their institution it is as strange and vnknowne to the gospell as was the institution of the priestes of Ieroboams calues strange to lawe of God For the Romish priests are instituted to haue authoritie to offer sacrifice to God and to say masse for the quick and the dead as the Popes Pontifical beareth record and that in the name of the lord say they But the Popish Pontificall doeth herein greatly abuse the name of the Lord. For the Lord God doeth not in the whole newe Testament ordeyne any such kinde of sacrifizing or massing Priestes And therefore the order of the Popish priesthood is as farre wide from the gospell as the calues of Ieroboam were from the lawe of God and his priestes frō the Lords priestes Now in the execution of that office which the Priestes in poperie pretende to haue and to exercise they doe likewise depart from the trueth For they preach not the gospell of Iesus but the deuises of men contrarie to the doctrin of Iesus They do not administer his holy sacraments