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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13839	A synopsis or compendium of the fathers, or of the most famous and ancient doctors of the Church, as also of the schoolmen Wherein is clearely shewed how much is to be attributed to them, in what severall times they lived, with what caution they are to be read, and which were their perfections, which their errors. A treatise most necessary, and profitable to young divines, and delightfull to all such whose studies in humanity take from them the leisure, though not the desire of reading the fathers; whose curiosity this briefe surveigh of antiquity will in part satisfie. Written in Latin by that reverend and renowned divine, Daniel Tossanus, chiefe Professor of Divinity in the University of Heidelberge, and faithfully Englished by A.S. Gent.; Synopsis de patribus. English	Tossanus, Daniel, 1541-1602.; Stafford, Anthony.	1635 (1635)	STC 24145; ESTC S118496	31,571	108

not of much lesse Authority but in which almost nothing but the Decrees of the former Councels were establisht as that of Constantinople the fourth and sixth about the yeere 680. which condemned the errors of the Monothelites who averred that the Deity Humanity of Christ had onely one will and operation But Gregory the first Bishop of Rome erred who lib. 2. epist 10. writeth thus Quatuor Synodos sanctae universalis Ecclesiae sicut quatuor libros sancti Evangelii recipimus Wee receive the foure Synods of the holy universall Church as wee doe the foure Evangelists Gratianus writeth somewhat better in Decreto Canon 3. Sancta Romana Ecclesia post veteris et novi Testamenti Scripturas quas regulariter suscipit etiam quatuor Synodos suscipi non prohibet The holy Roman Church saith hee after the Scriptures of the old and new Testament which it regularly receives doth not forbid the admittance of the foure Synods Moreover these rules are to be observed concerning those foure Oecumenicall Councels Wee must beleeve the Scriptures for themselves because they have never erred in matters words or sentences but we beleeve the Councels not for themselves but for the Scriptures The certainety of the Symbols and confessions of Faith made by those Councels doth not consist in the authority of the men or the places but in the perpetuall consent of the whole Church from the time of the Apostles Councels have no power of making new Articles of Faith but onely to explaine them by Scripture and produce them against Hereticks Councels may bee ex●mined and searched what is in them agreeable to the Divine Word and what not For if to those of Beraea it were lawfull to examine the Doctrine of Saint Paul and conferre it with the Scriptures why may not wee examine the Councels since many of them contradictone another as the Nicene and the Ariminensian the Chalcedonian and the second Ephesian the sixt at Constantine-Poole touching the pulling down of Images and the second Nicene under Irenes against the defacers of Images Also many have erred as that of Carthage before the Nicene of the re-baptizing of Heretickes the Nicene concerning warfare the second Ephesian in defending Euryches although some great and famous men were present Leo Bishop of Rome epist 30. 31. saith that hee doth approve of the decrees of the Chalcedon Synod as farre as they concerne Doctrine but not those which were acted with Anatholius And the saying of Saint Austin lib. 3. cont Maximinus is very remarkeable Nec ego tibi Nicoenum Concilium nec tu mihi Arimin●●●e tanquam praeiudicaturus proferas nec ego huius authoritate nec tu illius detineris Scripturarum authoritatibus non quorumlibet propriis sed utrisque communibus testibus certemus res cum re ratio cum ratione decertet Neither saith hee will I with prejudice urge against thee the Nicene Councell neither doe thou prejudice against mee the Ariminensian neither am I tyed to the Authority of the one nor thou of the other Let us both submit our selves to the Authority of the Scriptures witnesses not proper to one but common to both Let one matter one reason contest with another But some Councels deliberated onely upon those things which appertained to the Ecclesiasticall policy as that of Spain and the Laodicenian Other Councels decreed partly some things holy partly many impious as the Lateran celebrated at Rome under Innocent the third where the prophane Doctrine of Transubstantiation was ranked with the Articles of our faith And so in the following Councels the state of the Church alwayes declining many Idolatries were established so that not without cause the Evangelical Churches have rejected their Authority and have appealed from them to the Antiquity of the Apostolicall Age. CHAP. III. Of the private Writings of the Fathers BEfore the Nicene Councell there flourished in the Church the two Disciples of the Apostles Polycarpus and Ignatius in their youth Auditors of Saint Iohn the Apostle But of these there are no writings extant except certaine fragments of the Epistles of Ignatius To them succeeded Irenaeus Bishop of Lions and Iustinus the Philosopher surnamed Martyr in the reigne of Antonius the Emperour Hierom in his Catalogue of the Ecclesiasticall Writers testifieth Irenaeus to have written many things but now there is only one Volume remaining consisting of five bookes against the Heresie of Valentinus and the like wherein there are excellent sayings of the cunning Arguments of Heretickes as also of the authority and consent of the Ecclesiastical Doctrine Among others this saying is very rife lib. 3. cap. 21. Christum pro nobis passum requiesconte verbo at crucifigi et mori posset The Word resting Christ suffer'd for us that he might be crucified and dye Irenaeus anno 70. was set forth at Geneva with the notes of Nicholas Gelasius who hath explained certaine things unfitly spoken as that in his third Booke Filium hominis commixtum verbo Dei The sonne of man is mixt with the word of God Also Mariam sibi et universo generi humano factam causam salutis Mary was made the cause of salvation to her selfe and all mankind which to say is blasphemy unlesse we consider her as the Organ through which our Saviour passed into the world There are extant both deserving and learned writings of Iustinus Martyr in Greeke Questions and Answers against the Gentiles about true faith and an Apology for the Christians to Antoninus In the second booke there is a memorable place of the Liturgy of the Ancient Christians out of which may bee proved how much the Papists degenerate from the custome of the ancient Church for thus hee saith Die qui Solis dicitur omnes tum qui in opidis tum qui in agris morantur in unum convenimus et ex Commentariis Apostolorum et Prophetarum Scriptis recitatur quantam licet Deinde ubi destitit qui recitat antistes orationem habet quae admonet hertaturque ad pulchrarum illarum rerum imitationem Postea omnes una surgimus et precamur Postquam autem à precibus destitimus profertur panis et vinum et aqua Tum antistes rursus precatur et gratias agit quanta potest contentione populusque acclamat dicens Amen et iis super quibus actae sunt gratiae unusquisque participat On the day called Sunday wee assemble together as well they which are in the Townes as those that dwell in the fields when as much as is convenient is recited out of the Commentaries of the Apostles and writings of the Prophets When the Reciter hath ended the chiefe Priest maketh an Oration which admonisheth and exhorts to the imitation of those faire things After this we rise altogether and pray prayers being ended there is brought forth bread wine and water Then the chiefe Priest prayeth againe and gives thankes with as great ardency as he can and the people cry Amen Then every one participates of

of Patience of Mortality of the lapsed also against Demetrianus and the Iewes scarce anything of Saint Cyprian is left us although I cannot deny some other Sermons are inserted The explication of the Creed is rather made by Ruffinus than Saint Cyprian The Treatise of the Lords Supper seemes also to have another Author After the Frobenian and Lugdunensian Edition his workes were printed and revised by Turnebus at Paris and after that at Colen with an addition of some fragments Hee confuted Novatus the Hereticke whom in his Epistles hee stiles an importunate Innovat●r and a murtherer of penitence The staines of Saint Cyprian were that hee contended too obstinately that they were to be re-baptized who were baptized by Heretickes or who leaving Heresie repented Although the Affrican Councell assented to him yet Stephanus a Roman Bishop opposed him Saint Augustine lib. 2. contra Crescon Grammat saith thus Nos nullam Cypriano facimus iniuriam cum eius quaslibet literas a Canonica Divinarum Scripturarum anthoritate distinguimus Non teneor authoritate Epistolae Cypriani ad Iubaianum et cum eius pace quod cum Scripturis non convenit respuo Wee doe no wrong to Cyprian if we distinguish any of his letters from the Canonicall Authority of the Divine Scriptures I am not tyed to the authority of Cyprians letter to Iubaianus and by his leave I refuse that which agrees not with the Scriptures Saint Cyprian also in his Epistles over-carefully and superstitiously urgeth water to be mixed with wine in the Administration of the Lords Supper because water and blood flowed from the side of Christ Also Epist 8. lib. 3. hee affirmes Infantes statim esse baptizandos ne pereant quòd eis misericordia non sit deneganda That Infants must forthwith be baptized lest they perish because mercy is not to be denied them Where hee seemes to confine mercy to the Signes Anno 260. Gregorius Neocaesariensis the Disciple of Origen a learned and pious man confuted Samosatenus of whose workes there is nothing extant save a confession of his in the Councell of Antioch against Samosatenus To these times may be referred Arnobius an Affrican of whose composing eight bookes are extant against the Gentiles as also his Commentaries on the Psalmes but they are very briefe and falsified by the Monkes About the yeare after Christ 317. flourished Lactantius Firmianus in the beginning of the reigne of Constantine the great to whom hee dedicated his bookes of Divine Institutions against the Gentiles Hee lived at Nicodemia and excelled in Elegancy and lustre of Language all the Writers of the Church But hee seemed little to understand the proper Doctrine of the Gospell concerning the Benefits of Christ and of Faith For hee expresly writeth that Christ was therefore sent that by his Word and Example hee might invite us to vertue and suffered onely to be a president of Patience And when in his 5. and 6. booke hee expresly and of purpose handles the point of Christian Justice he onely disputes of the Justice of the Law and mentions very sparingly the Justification by Faith But the first part of his Institutions which taxeth the heathenish Idolatries and Philosophicall opinions of God and the Chiefe Good as also his booke of the Workemanship of God in the structure of man may be read with great profit and pleasure The Fathers in the time of the Nicene Councell which was held anno Christi 330. whose Writings are extant Athanasius although in the time of the Councell he were not a Bishop yet was he alwayes a faithfull assistant of Alexander the Bishop of Alexandria whom hee afterward succeeded and deservedly obtaines the first place amongst the Fathers of that time For although hee were exposed to innumerable Calumnies yet with an incredible constancy he frustrated all the endevours of his adversaries and is stiled the Bulwark of Faith in the Ecclesiastical History neither was there any other cause that more whetted the bitter hatred of the Arians against him as saith Theodoret lib. 1. hist than that they perceived the sharpnesse of his wit and industry in confuting of Heretickes in the Nicene Councell His Creed or his explication of the Apostolical Creed is in the Church among other Creeds received There are yet some of his most grave and excellent Treatises extant at Basill set forth heretofore by the Frobenii and Episcopii but more lately at Paris by Nivellius Petrus Nannius an eloquent man being his Interpretour as an oration against Idols of the Incarnation of the Word an Epistle against Heretickes to Epictetus Bishop of Corinth an Exposition of Faith foure Orations against the Arians a double Apology for his flight against the Calumnies of the Arians of divers questions of the Scripture to Antiochus and many others of the same Argument which our Divines usually object against the Neorians and Vbiquitarians The life of S. Anthony the Abbot is father'd on him but there are in it many things fabulous which savour not of the gravity and simplicity of S. Athanasius Most true it is that both S. Athanasius and those ancient Fathers were too fervent in commending the signe of the Crosse and the miracles wrought by that signe and by Martyrs thinking by this meanes to authorize the Evangelicall Doctrine While wee give these cautions touching the blemishes of the Fathers we are not lyable to that censure which the Papists lay upon us derived from the Authority of the same Father who in his first Oration complaines that the Arians accused the Fathers for he speakes not there of all the writings of the Fathers but of the Nicene Creed gathered out of the Scriptures by the Fathers of that Councell to confute the Arians For hee there diligently admonisheth us to try the Spirits which may be easily done by those who are conversant in the Scriptures There are some memorable speeches of Athanasius to be observed First against the Lutherans out of the second Oration against the Arians Nunquam populus Christianus ab Episcopis suis sed a Domino in quem creditum suit nomen accepit Ne ab Apostolis quidem appellationes adepti sumus sed a Christo Illi qui aliundè originem suae fidei ducunt ut haeretici meritò authorum suorum cognomenta praese ferunt The Christian people never tooke their Name from the Bishops but from the Lord in whom they beleeved Neither have wee our appellations from the Apostles but from Christ himselfe They who derive their Faith from any other Originall as heretickes deservedly beare the surnames of their Authors Then against the Vbiquitaries upon that saying Omnia mihi tradita sunt c. All things are given mee Tradita sunt illi omnia ut medico qui sanaret morsum serpentis ut vitae qui vivificaret ut luci illuminanti id est ratione officii Dedit inquit Deus ut quemadmodum per eum facta sunt omnia ita in eo omnia

could quote the Fathers but hee had rather appeale to the sacred Scriptures 22. For it is certaine that Saint Cyprian dissented from the Church about the Baptisme of Heretickes and that Tertullian being bewitch'd by the Montanists wrote some Tracts against the Tenents of the Church as also that Saint Lactantius and others were too much addicted to the opinions of the Chiliasts and Platonists and as true it is that many things are ascribed to the Fathers falsely which savour neither of their stile faith nor piety as shall bee shewed in its proper place 23. Moreover it is most sure that Councels have often erred and that those things which had beene well constituted by some Councels were overthrowne by others Yea and in the Nicene Councell it selfe an unjust sentence had beene pronounced against the marriage of Priests had not one Paphnutius an old man opposed it In that Councell also there was an over-hard Canon written against them who after a Confession of faith once made did fight for their Princes 24. Not without reason therefore is that of Panormitanus a Doctor of the Common Law De Elect. cap. significasti Magis credendum Laico si Scriptaras adferat quam Papae et toti Concilio si absque Scripturis agant We owe a greater beleefe to a Lay man producing the Scriptures than to the Pope and a whole Councell if they determine any thing without them 25. They erre therefore who would have the common opinion passe for a Law preferring the multitude of humane Testimonies before the Scriptures 26. But some will say Heretickes beleeve not the Scriptures and therefore we must have recourse to the authority of the Fathers To which I answer that they will lesse beleeve the Fathers and the Church as appeareth in the Ecclesiasticall History by the Arians and Nestorians who after the Councels of Nice and Ephesus and the crees of the Fathers became more obstinate than before 27. Whereas therefore the Evangelicall Divines of Wormes anno 57. when they affirmed the holy Writ onely to bee the Judge of Controversie being asked thereupon whether or no thereby they meant to take away all authority from the Fathers answer'd that they willingly would receive the Fathers which lived in the first 500. yeares after Christ it is not so to be understood as if they did simply approve them in all things which the very Papists themselves doe not but comparatively that the corruption of Doctrine was lesse in those times than in the Ages following although there were not wanting who after those 500. yeares retained the Apostolicall Doctrine in many points as Fulgentius Vigilius Leo Bishop of Rome Bernard and Damascene himselfe especially if you consider the Doctrine of the person of Christ 28. It remaineth that we answer them who demand what is to be done when places are produced out of those first Fathers which seeme somewhat to confirme the opinions of the Papists or the errors of others as in prayer for the dead the sacrifice of the Masse Free-Will c. To this I answer First that proofes of opinions are to be derived from the Scriptures and the rule of Saint Paul to bee strictly observed 2 Cor. 13. Wee can doe nothing against the Truth but all for the Truth Secondly wee must compare many places together Thirdly wee must consider how and secundum quid any thing is spoken by the Fathers Fourthly we must distinguish the Authenticke books from the Bastard and supposed or suspected as are the bookes Hypognosticon of S. Austin and of Questions of the old and new Testament of a blessed life and many more not rellishing like the doctrine or stile of S. Austin as Erasmus and Iacobus Hermerus rightly observe THE SECOND PART Of the Writings of the Fathers whereof some are publike and some private CHAP. I. Of the Canons which they call the Apostles Canons and are wont to bee inserted in the first Tome of Councels in the beginning THere are certaine Canons publisht in the Greeke Tongue which they call the Apostles Canons some maintaining that they were collected by Clement the Successor of Saint Peter but it is manifest that Rapsody to have beene written long after the times of the Apostles for there are many things spoken of utterly unknowne to the Apostles dayes As of celebrating the Paschall Feast before the Vernall Aequinoctiall of gold and silver vessels sanctified of Clergy men and Lay-men c. Withall it is unjust that the Papists should object against and impose upon us those Canons which they themselves in many things observe not as the Canon of Clergy men taken in Tavernes to bee denyed the Communion of all the faithfull entring the Church who are commanded to heare and communicate the Scriptures as also the Canon that no Bishop or Priest put away his wife under the pretext of Religion c. Lastly in Gratianus himselfe Dist 16. those Canons by the authority of one Isidorus are numbred amongst the Apocripha although in another place by the authority of one Zephirinus they are simply received which contradiction the glosse cannot otherwise reconcile than by distinction of those Canons whereof some are Apostolicall and some suspected It stands otherwise with the Apostles Creed which hath authority above and is received before all other Confessions because almost all of it consists of the words of the Scripture it selfe and comes to us by Apostolicall Tradition See Cyprian and Ruffin in Symbol That Creed also is the Fountaine and Originall of all other Creeds For as Irenaeus rightly admonisheth lib. 3 cap. 1. Doctrina Apostolorum simpliciter pendemus nec cogitandum est alios doctiores aut sapientiores successisse Apostolis Wee meerely depend upon the Doctrine of the Apostles neither ought wee to thinke that any more wise or learned than they have succeeded them CHAP. II. Of Councels AFter the Apostles time there were Synods often assembled to decide Ecclesiasticall controversies and that before the Nicene Councell as about the Controversie concerning the Paschall Feast in the yeare of Christ 198. in Palestine and at Rome also against the Novatians at Rome and in Africa and against Paulus Samosatenus anno 278. to confute whose errour and blasphemy there is extant an excellent confession of Gregorius Neocaesariensis But those Synods before the Nicene were accounted but particular and provinciall because the persecution being so hot they could not conveniently call Generall Councels The Generall or Oecumenicall as Saint Augustine calls them are chiefly foure The first Nicene in the time of Constantine the great about the yeare 332. The first Constantinopolitane by Gratianus and Theodosius the elder anno 386. assembled against Macedonius and men of pneumaticall spirits The first Ephesine anno 435. called by Theodosius the younger against Nestorius The Chalcedonian in the reigne of the Emperour Martianus anno 456. In which were condemned Eutyches Abbot of Constantinople and Dioscorns Bishop of Alexandria To these foure universall Councels Beda and some others adde two more