well qualified whiles he doth insolently abuse the grace of God whiles he makes too much of his own wit and thinks so well of himself whiles he contēneth the ancient simplicity of Christian religion whiles he presumes he is wiser then all men and whiles that contemning the traditions of the Church and the maisterships of the Elders he doth after a new manner expound certaine places of the Scriptures he hath deserued that it should be sayd vnto the Church of God concerning him also If there arise among you a Prophet And a little after Thou shalt not quoth he listen to the words of that Prophet And againe Because the Lord your God saith he tryeth you whether ye will loue him or no. It was indeed not onely a temptation but euen a great temptation to remoue the Church being giuen vnto him and depending vpon him and through wondring at his wit learning eloquence conuersation and reputation suspecting him not nor fearing him to remoue the Church I say all vpon the sudden by little and little from the ancient Religion to nouell profanenesse But some man will say that the bookes of Origen are corrupted I gain say it not but had rather too it were so For that is both deliuered and written of some not onely Catholikes but also Heretiques But that is it which now we are to marke that although he himselfe bee not yet the bookes which are publiked vnder his name are a great temptation which being pestered with many wounds of blasphemies are both read embraced not as other mens but as his owne so that although Origen did not conceiue the error yet Origens authority may seeme powerfull to perswade the error CHAP. 24. BVt Tertullians cōdition also is euen the same For as he among the Greekes so this man among the Latines is without doubt to bee reputed the chiefest of all our men For who more learned then this man who more exercised in diuinity and in humanity For verily he did with a certaine admirable capacity of vnderstanding vnderstand compasse al Philosophy and all the sects of the Phylosophers the authors abettours of the sects and all their doctrines and all manner of stories and studies And did hee not excell for a wit so graue and vehement as that he propounded almost nothing to himselfe to vanquish which he did not either breake into with acutenesse or strike out with weightinesse Moreouer who can expresse the praises of his speech which was replenished with such I wot not what vrgent arguments as that whom he could not perswade he forced to consent vnto him whose sentences were almost as many as words and as many victories as reasons This knew the Martionists Apelles the Praxeans Hermogenes the Iewes Gentiles Gnostickes and the rest whose blasphemies he ouerthrew with his manifold great volumes as with certaine lightenings And yet this man also I say this Tertullian being vnmindfull of the Catholicke doctrine that is the vniuersall and ancient faith and much more eloquent thē happy changing his iudgment afterwards wrought that at last which the blessed Confessour Hilarie writeth of him in a certaine place By the error quoth he which he fell afterwards into he made the workes which he wrote well to loose their reputation And hee himselfe was also a great temptation in the Church But of him I will say no more This thing I will onely mention that because hee did against the commandement of Moses affirme that the new braine-sicke doctrines of Montanus arising in the Church and that those madde conceits of mad women euen the dreames of an vpstart doctrine were true prophecies he did deserue that it should be said of him also and of his writings If a Prophet shall arise among you And againe Thou shalt not heare the words of that Prophet Why so Because saith he the Lord your God tryeth you whether you will loue him or not By these therfore so many and so great examples in the Church and by the rest of that nature we ought euidently to marke and to know more clearely then the light that if euer any teacher in the Church shall wander from the faith the prouidence of God doth suffer it to be done for our tryall to proue whether we loue the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soule or no. CHAP. 25. VVHich things seeing they so stand he is a true and right Catholicke who loueth the truth of God the Church the body of Christ and who preferres nothing to Gods Religion nothing to the Catholicke faith not the authority not the loue not the wit not the eloquence nor the philosophy of any man but contemning all these things and abiding firme and stedfast in the faith doth iudge that whatsoeuer he shall vnderstand to bee vniuersally held of old of the Catholicke Church himselfe should hold and beleeue alone but whatsoeuer nouell and strange doctrine hee shall perceiue to bee priuily brought in after by any one besides or against the iudgement of all the Saints hee knowes that it belongs not to religion but rather to tentation And is also especially by the speeches of the blessed Apostle Paul instructed for this is that which hee writeth in his first Epistle to the Corinthes There must bee saith he heresies euen among you that they which are approued among you might be knowen As if hee should say for this cause the Authors of heresies are not presently rooted out by God that they which are approued might be seene that is that it might appeare how sure faithful and constant a louer of the Catholick faith euery mā is And in truth when euery nouelty cometh vp the weightinesse of the Corne and the lightnesse of the Chaffe is presently perceiued at which time that is easily shaken frō the Floore which was held with no weight within the Floore For some doe forthwith flye quite away but others being onely driuen out doe both feare to perish and blush to returne being wounded halfe dead and halfe aliue as haiung drunke such a quantity of poyson as neither kild them nor was digested as would neither make them dye nor suffer them to liue Oh miserable condition with what waues of care with what whirlwinds are they tossed For somtimes which way the wind shal driue thē they are carried with a violent error sometimes returning to themselues they are beatē back like cōtrary waues somtimes by rash presumptiō they allow of those things which seeme vncertaine sometimes also through a reasonlesse feare they are afraid of those things that are certaine being vncertaine which way to go which way to returne what to follow what to fly what to hold what to let go Which afflictiō verily of a doubting wauering hart is the medicine of Gods mercy towards them if they would be wise For therefore are they tossed beaten and almost killed with sundry tempests of thoughts out of the most quiet
seeme to bee pointed at rather then vnfolded Let them write delicately and with accuratenesse that are led thereunto through confidence of their wit or by reason of their office but for me it shall be sufficient that I haue prepared a Remembrancer for my selfe to helpe my memory or rather to preuent my forgetfulnesse the which yet I will endeauour through the Lords assistance to mend and perfite dayly by reuoluing and calling to mind the things that I haue learned And this I haue said before hand that if happily ought of ours shall come into the hands of the Saints they would reprehend nothing therein rashly which they may see by promise yet to be amended CHAP. 1. INquiring therefore oftentimes with great care and very singular diligence of very many excellent men both for holinesse and learning how I might by some certaine and as it were generall and regular way discerne the truth of the Catholicke faith from the falsehood of wicked heresies I receiued this answere alwaies from them all almost That if either I or any other would finde out the wiles of vpstart Hereticks and escape their snares and continue sound and whole in a sound faith he must fortifie his faith through the Lords assistance with a two-fold fence namely first with the authority of Gods word and then also with the tradition of the Catholicke Church CHAP. 2. HEre it may be some man will aske Seeing the Canon of the Scriptures is perfect and that it is aboundantly sufficient of it selfe to all things what need is there that the authority of the Churches vnderstanding should be ioyned therunto Surely because al mē do not after one manner vnderstand the holy Scripture according to the height thereof but diuers men interpret the sentences thereof diuersly that there may seeme to be as many meanings thereof almost as men For Nouatian expounds it one way Photinus another way Sabellius thus Donatus otherwise Arrius Eunomius Macedonius other waies Appollinaris Priscillianus by themselues Iouinianus Pelagius Celestius another way and finally Nestorius hath a sence by himselfe And therefore by reason of so great deceipts and windings of so different errours it is very necessary that a man should interpret the Prophets and Apostles according as the Catholicke Church doth vnderstand them CHAP. 3. IN like manner euen in the Catholike Church wee must haue a speciall regard that we hold that which is Euery where beleeued alwaies of all for this is truly and properly Catholike as the very force reason of the name declareth which comprehendeth al things truly vniuersally Now this we shall doe if we follow Vniuersality Antiquity and Consent And wee shall follow Vniuersality thus namely if we do confesse this one faith to be true which the whole Church through out the world confesseth We shall follow Antiquity if by no meanes we reiect those interpretations which we know to haue bene vsed and esteemed of our holy Elders and Forefathers And Consent in like sort also if euer in Antiquity we follow the determinations and iudgements of all or surely of almost all Priests and Doctors CHAP. 4. VVHat then shal a Christian Catholicke do if some few members of the Church shall cut themselues from the fellowship of the Catholicke Faith Surely what else but preferre the soundnesse of the whole body before a noysom and corrupt member And what if some new contagion shall indeuour the corruption not of some small part of the Church onely but euen of the whole body thereof also In like manner then he shall bee carefull to cleaue fast vnto Antiquity which cannot now wholly be seduced by any nouell deceipt And what if euen in Antiquity it selfe the errour of two or three or of a Citty or of some Prouince be found out Then his whole care shall be to prefer the decrees of the Vniuersal Church vniuersally of old maintained to the rashnesse or ignorance if any such be of some few persons But what if some such thing breake out where nothing of that nature may be found Then shall hee compare the sentences and opinions of the Fathers together and take Counsell of them of those Fathers or Elders I meane onely which though they liued not in one age and place did yet continue in the fellowship and faith of one Catholicke Church were laudable Teachers and whatsoeuer he shall perceiue that not one or two alone but that all alike with one and the same consent did openly commonly and constantly hold write and teach let him know that the same of him also is without any scruple to bee beleeued But that those things which wee say may be made more plaine they are each of them to be cleered by examples and to be a little more enlarged least through affectation of too much breuity the weight of things bee not perceiued by reason of passing so swiftly ouer them in our speech CHAP. 5. IN the time of Donatus from whom sprang the Donatists when as a great part of Aphrica had throwne themselues headlong into his furious errours and when vnmindfull of their honour religion and profession they did preferre the sacrilegious headines of one man to the Church of Christ then those Africans could of them all alone be safe within the sanctuaries of the Catholicke faith which hauing that wicked Schisme in detestation adioyned themselues to all the Churches of the world leauing in truth a notable paterne to them that should come after namely how and that also well the soundnesse of all might be preferred before the fury of one or but a few CHAP. 6. IN like manner when as the poyson of the Arrians had now corrupted not some fewe but almost all the world so as that well neere all the Latine Bishops being deceiued partly by force and partly by fraude knew not well by reason of a certaine kinde of blindnesse which had inuaded their vnderstandings what course they were best to follow when things were so confused then whosoeuer was a true Louer worshipper of Christ the same by making more accoūt of the ancient-faith thē of nouel-falshood was preserued from all infections of that contagious doctrine The danger in truth of which time hath aboundantly shewed what great calamity the bringing in of that vpstart doctrine caused For then were shaken not small things onely but euen the greatest also For not onely alliances kindreds friendships and houses were dissolued but also Cities People Prouinces Nations yea and the whole Romane Empire was vtterly shaken and put out of order For when that profane noueltie of the Arrians as a certaine Bellona or Furia had first captiuated the Emperour and then brought all the chiefest about him vnder new lawes it ceased not afterwards to trouble disorder all things priuat and publicke facred and profane and to haue no regard of that which was good and true but whomsoeuer
in the end of this second Aduertisement which haue ben spoken of in these two We haue sayd before that this hath euer bene and is also at this day the custome of Catholickes to proue the true saith these two wayes First by the authority of Gods word Secondly by the tradition of the Catholike Church not because the word alone is not sufficient of it selfe for all matters but because many whiles they expound the Scriptures as they list themselues they conceiue sundry opinions and errors And therefore that it is necessary that the interpretation of the heauenly Scripture should bee directed by the alone Rule of Ecclesiastical iudgement or vnderstanding especially in those questions at least on which the grounds of all the Catholicke doctrine are layed In like maner we haue sayd that we should againe haue regard in the Church her-selfe vnto the consent of All in generall and also of Antiquity least we should either bee broken off from the whole body of the Church being vnited and coupled together and so become Schismatickes or else be cast head-long from the antient religion into nouell heresies We haue also sayd that in the very antiquity of the Church two certaine things are earnestly and carefully to be obserued to which all that would not be Heretiques should throughly cleaue first if any thing hath bene of antient time decreed of all the Priests of the Catholicke Church by the authority of a generall Councell secondly if any strange question should arise when that in no wise might be found that recourse should be had to the iudgements of the holy Fathers of those onely which in their times and places conteining all of them in the vnity of fellowship and of the Faith were commendable Teachers And that whatsoeuer they should be found to haue held with one meaning and consent that it should without any scruple be iudged of the Church to be true and Catholicke CHAP. 42. VVHich-least we should seeme to set abroach through our owne presumption rather then by Ecclesiasticall authority we haue vsed the example of an holy Councell which was held almost three yeares since at Ephesus in Asia those most excellent men Bassus and Antiochus being Consuls Where when there was dispute about the confirming of the Rules of Faith least perhaps any profane noueltie should steale in there after the manner of the o Ariminian Councels vnfaithfull dealing this seemed to all the Priests which had come thither to the number almost of two hundreth to be a thing most Catholicke most commodious and best to be done that the iudgements of the holy Fathers should be brought foorth and shewed of whom it should be manifest that some were Martyrs others Confessors but that all had bene and had continued Catholicke Priests that so by their consent and decree the religion of the ancient doctrine might well and solemnly be confirmed and the blasphemy of wicked nouelty condemned Which when it was so done then was that foresaid Nestorius iudged contrary to Catholicke Antiquity but blessed Cyril to consent vnto it And that the truth of those things might in no wise be called into question we haue also shewed the names and number though we had forgotten the ranke of those Fathers according to whose order therein concording and vnanimous iudgement both the sentences of holy Writ were expounded and the rule of diuine doctrine established Whom for the strengthening of our memorie it is not superfluous here also to recite These therefore are the men whose writings either as of Iudges or as it were of Witnesses were in that Councell shewed and recited S. Peter of Alexandria a Bishop a most excellent Teacher and a most blessed Martyr S. Athanasius a Prelate of the same Citty a most faithfull Teacher and a most worthy Confessor Saint Theophilus a Bishop of the same Citie too a man very famous for his religion life and learning whom worthy Cyril did succeed who doth at this time make the Church of Alexandria famous And least it should perhaps be thought to be the doctrine of one City Prouince there were ioyned also those Lights of Cappadocia S. Gregory Bishop and Confessor of Nazianzum S. Basil Bishop and Confessor of Caesarea in Cappadocia as also the other S. Gregory Bishop of Nysse and for his faith conuersation vprightnesse and wisedome a man most worthy of his brother Basil But that it might be proued that not Greece alone or that the East onely but that the Weasterne and Latine world was alwayes also of that iudgement certaine Epistles also were there read written to certaine men by Saint Foelix a Martyr and S. Iulius Bishops of the City of Rome And that not only the head of the world but that the sides also might giue testimony to that iudgement there was taken from the South most blessed Cyprian Bishop of Carthage and a Martyr and from the North Saint Ambrose Bishop of Millaine All these ten therefore were at Ephesus produced as Teachers Counsellers Witnesses and Iudges whose doctrine counsell witnesse and iudgemēt that blessed Synode mainteining following crediting and obeying did readily discreetly vnpartially giue sentence concerning the Rules of Faith Although a farre greater number of Elders might haue bene ioyned to these yet it was not needfull because it was not sitting that the time allotted for that businesse should be taken vp and spent with producing of a multitude of Witnesses and for that euery man is perswaded that those ten did differ nothing in a maner in iudgement from all their other fellowes After all which things we haue also annexed the holy iudgement of Cyril which things are conteined in the ecclesiasticall acts For after that the Epistle of S. Capreolus Bishop of Carthage was read who laboured and intreated no other thing but that Noueltie being conuinced Antiquity might be beleeued Bishop Cyril spake and defined to the same effect the which it seemeth not vnfitting for the matter in hand here also to interpose For hee saith in the end of the Acts And this Epistle which was read quoth he of the reuerend very religious Bishop of Carthage Capreolus shall bee faithfully recorded whose iudgement is manifest for hee would haue the doctrines of the ancient faith confirmed but nouell conceipts and such as are superfluously deuised and wickedly published to bee reiected and condemned All the Bishops cryed together in signe of approbation These are the words of vs all we do all affirme these things this is the wish of vs all And what I pray you were the words and the wishes of all but that That should bee embraced which was anciently deliuered and that That should be banished which was newly deuised After which things we wondred at told of the great humility and holinesse of that Councell and what a number of Priests there were the greater part welneere being Metropolitanes of such knowledge and so well learned as that almost all of them were able to dispute of
it listed to smite them downe as from some place on high Then were wiues defiled widdowes robd Virgins deflowred Monasteries demolished Cleargy-men disturbed Leuites beaten Priests banished prisons gaoles and mynes filled with the Saints the greatest part of whom being driuen out of Citties forbidden to them and exiled were euen broken and consumed with nakednesse hunger and thirst amongst deserts dens wild beasts and rockes But all these things did they for no other cause befall but euen because the superstitions of mans inuentions were taught for heauenly doctrine because well-grounded antiquity was vedermined by wicked nouelty because the ordinances of the Elders were violated because the decrees of the Fathers were repealed because the determinations of the Ancient were disanulled and for that the lust of profane and vpstart curiosity contained not it selfe within the most chaste limits of sacred and vncorrupt Antiquity CHAP. 7. BVt it will bee thought perhaps wee faine these things through hatred of nouelty and loue of Antiquity Whosoeuer iudgeth this let him giue credit at the least to blessed Ambrose who in his second book to the Emperour Gratian himselfe bewailing the bitternes of the time saith But now almighty God quoth he we haue beene sufficiently punished by our owne destruction and bloud-shed for the slaughters of the Confessours the banishments of the Priests and for such wicked villany It is cleare enough that they which violated the faith cannot be safe In like manner in the third booke of the same worke Let vs therefore keepe saith he the commandements of the Elders that wee be not bold through vnciuill rashnesse to breake the seales that are hereditary Neither the Elders nor the Power nor the Angels nor Archangels durst open that sealed booke of prophecy the prerogatiue of explaning that was reserued for Christ alone Which of vs dares vnseale the Sacerdoticall Booke sealed of Confessours and consecrated now with the martyrdome of many which they that haue bene compelled to vnseale it yet afterwards haue sealed when the fraud was condemned they that durst not violate it were Confessours and Martyrs How can wee deny their faith whose victory we do extoll Wee praise them I say O venerable Ambrose wee praise them indeed and praysing wee wonder at them For who is he that is so mad who though he be not able to ouertake them yet would not wish to follow whom no violence hath driuen from defending of the faith of the Elders Not threatnings not flatterings not life not death not the palace not Sergeants not the Emperour not the Empire not men not diuels Whom I say the Lord for their constant imbracing of holy Antiquity deemed meete for so great an office as by them to repaire Churches ruinated to quicken spirituall people extinguished to put on the Crownes of Priests that were deiected to deface a fountaine of vnfeigned teares being infused from heauen into the Bishops those wicked I say not letters but litures blots or dashes of nouell impiety and finally to call back now almost all the world being strucken with the tempest of suddaine heresie I say to call it backe to the ancient faith from vp-start falshood vnto ancient soundnesse from furious and vnsound newnesse and to the ancient light from the blindnesse of nouelty CHAP. 8. BVt in this certaine Diuine vertue of Confessions that we are also euen most of all to mark that then in the very Antiquity of the Church they vndertooke the defence not of some part but of the whole body For it was not lawful for mē so great and of such quality to mantaine with so great contention indeauour the straggling selfe-thwarting coniectures of one or two or to striue for the rash consent of some little Prouince but following the decrees and determinations of Apostolique and Catholicke truth made by all the Priests of the holy Church they choosed rather to betray themselues then the faith which was held of old vniuersally Whereby they obtained also so great a degree of glory as that they were rightly and worthily counted not Confessours only but the Principall of Confessours also It behoueth therefore all true Catholikes vncessantly to meditate on this notable and indeede diuine ensample of those same blessed men who shining like the seuen headed Candlesticke with the seuenfold light of the holy Spirit haue shewed their posterity a most euident way how the boldnesse of prophane nouelty may in all the vaine bablings of errours bee hence forth cooled with the authority of sacred Antiquity CHAP. 9. NEither is this a new thing truly for this custome was alwaies vsed in the Church that the more any man flourished in religion the more ready he was to withstand nouell deuices The world is full of such examples But for breuity sake wee will make choyce of some one and this especially from the Apostolicke Sea In times past therefore Agrippinus of venerable memory Bishop of Carthage held rebaptization first of all men against the Canon of the Word against the Rule of the Uniuersall Church against the iudgement of all his Fellow-priests against the manner and customes of the Elders The which presumption caused so great a mischiefe as that it ministred a forme of sacrilege not onely to all heretickes but gaue occasion of error to some Catholickes also When as all men therefore euery where vpon the nouelty of the thing cryed out against it all the Priests on euery side did euery one indeuour to resist it then Pope Stephen of happy memory Bishop of the Apostolike See with the rest of his Fellowes but yet aboue the rest withstood it deeming it as I suppose a thing beseeming if hee did excell all the rest as much by deuout affection to the faith as hee did surpasse them by the authority of place Finally in an Epistle which was sent into Affrica the said Stephen ordeined in these words That nothing should bee renewed but that which is deliuered For that holy and wise man knew that piety doth nothing else allow of but that all things should with the same faithfulnesse bee reteined for the Children with the which they were receiued of the Fathers and that we ought to follow religion not which way wee would lead it but rather by that way it would lead vs and that that is the propertie of Christian modesty and grauity for men not to deliuer their owne deuices to them that so come after but to keepe the things receiued of their Elders What therefore was the issue then of all the matter Surely what else but that which was vsuall and accustomed Antiquity namely reteined and nouelty exploded CHAP. 10. BVt peraduenture then that new deuise was destitute of means to defēd beare it out Yea verily there was for it so great acutenes of wit so great aboundance of eloquence so great a number of maintainers so great likelihood of truth so many Oracles of Gods word but
indeede after a new and naughty manner vnderstood that me thought all that conspiracy could by no meanes be destroyed vnlesse that selfe same vndertaken defended commended profession of nouelty had forsaken the alone cause of so great an enterprise To conclude what force had that Affrican Councell or Decree Truly none through the gift of God but all things were abolished made void and troden vnder foot as dreames as fables as things superfluous CHAP. 11. AND ô the wonderfull change of things The Authors of the same opinion are accounted Catholickes but the Followers are iudged Heretickes The Maisters are absolued the Schollers are condemned The writers of the bookes shall bee the children of the Kingdome but Hell shall receiue the Defenders For who would doubt that most blessed Cyprian the Light of all the Saints both Bishops and Martyrs together with the rest of his fellowes shall reigne eternally with Christ Or who on the contrary is so sacrilegious as to deny that the Donatists those other pestilent wretches which doe bragge that they rebaptize by the authority of that Councell shall burne for euer with the Diuell Which iudgement truly to me seemeth to bee promulged of God for their craftinesse especially who when they go about to forge an heresie vnder another bodies name do commonly lay hold of the writings of some ancient man something too couertly set out which in respect of their darknesse doe as it were serue for their owne opinion that that which I know not what they doe bring forth they may seeme to thinke neither first nor all-alone Whose wickednesse I iudge worthy double hatred either therfore because they are not afraid to proffer the poyson of heresie vnto others or therefore also because they do with a wicked hand blow vp and winnow the memory of euery holy man like ashes now raked vp and diffame those things with a reuiued opinion which ought in silence to be buried altogether following the foote-steps of their father Cham who not onely neglected to couer the nakednesse of venerable Noah but told it also to the rest that it might be mocked Whereby hee did so grieuously sinne against child-like piety as that his very posterity became obnoxious to the curses of his sin those brethren being blessed and farre vnlike who would neither distaine the nakednesse of their reuerend father with their owne eies nor haue it lye open vnto other mens but couered him as it is written with their faces backward which is neither to approue nor disclose the error of the holy man and therefore are they blessed in their posterity But let vs returne vnto our purpose CHAP. 12. WE should therefore greatly feare the grieuous sinne of changing the Faith and of stairing Religion from the which wickednesse wee are deterred not onely by the discipline of Ecclesiasticall Constitution but also by the censure of Apostolicall authority For all men know how grauely how seuerely and how earnestly the blessed Apostle Paul inueigheth against some that were too soone through their owne lightnesse translated from him who had called them to the grace of Christ vnto another Gospel which is not another who had heaped to themselues Teachers after their owne desires turning their eares from the truth and turning themselues to fables hauing damnation because they haue broken the first faith Who were by them deceiued of whom the same Apostle writeth to the Romane brethren Now I beseech you brethren marke them that cause dissentions offences otherwise then the doctrine which yee haue learned and auoyd them For such serue not the Lord Christ but their owne belly and by faire speeches and flattering seduce the hearts of the simple which enter into houses and lead captiue silly women laden with sinnes and led with sundry lusts euer learning and neuer coming to the knowledge of the truth Uaine-talkers and Seducers which subuert whole houses teaching things which they should not for filthy Lucre sake Men of corrupt mindes Reprobate concerning the faith proud and knowing nothing but doting about questions and strife of words destitute of the truth imagining that gaine is godlinesse Likewise also being idle they learne to goe about from house to house yea they are also bablers and busi-bodies speaking things they ought not Who repelling a good conscience as concerning faith haue made ship-wracke Whose prophane bablings further much vnto impiety and their word fretteth like a canker And it fitteth well which is also written of them But they shall preuaile no further for their madnesse shal be manifest vnto all as theirs also was When therefore some such wandring vp and downe Countries and Cities carrying about their Pedlary errors had come also to the Galatians and when as the Galatians hauing heard thē being now affected with a certaine loathing of the truth and casting vp the Manna of Apostolicke and Catholicke doctrine delighted themselues in the filthinesse of hereticall nouelty the Apostle did so exercise his Apostolicall authority as that with all seuerity he did decree But though either we saith hee or an Angel from Heauen preach vnto you otherwise then we haue preached let him bee accursed What is that which he saith But though wee Why does hee not rather say But though I The meaning hereof is this Though Peter though Andrew though Iohn Lastly though the whole cōpany of Apostles shold preach to you otherwise then we haue preached Let him bee accursed A terrible Curse that to maintaine the constant embracing of the first faith he neither spared himselfe nor the rest of his Fellow-apostles Yet this is but little Although saith hee an Angell should from heauen preach vnto you otherwise then wee haue preached let him be accursed It sufficed not for the keeping of the faith once deliuered to haue mentioned the nature of Man vnlesse hee had comprehended also the excellency of Angels Though We saith he or an Angell from heauen Not because the holy and heauenly Angels can now offend but this is his meaning If also saith hee that should bee which cannot be Whosoeuer hee be that shall assay to change the faith that was once deliuered let him bee accursed CHAP. 13. BVt hee spake it may bee these things without due regard and vttered them in an humane passion rather thē decreed them with Diuine reason Farre bee it from him for hee goes on and presseth this same point with a very earnest repetition As wee haue said before quoth he so say I now againe If any preach vnto you otherwise then that yee haue receiued let him be accursed He said not If any preach vnto you besides that which ye haue receiued let him bee blessed praised and entertained but let him be quoth he accursed that is separated put from the flock and excluded least the cursed contagion of one Sheep should corrupt the harmelesse flocke of Christ by a venemous mixture
and sound Who to make way for his one heresie inueighed against the blasphemies of all heresies But this was that which Moses saith The Lord your God proueth you whether yee loue him or no. And that we may passe by Nestorius in whom there was alwaies more wonderment then profite and more fame then experience whom the fauour of men rather then of God had for a while aduanced in the opinion of the common people let vs rather speake of those who hauing profited well and being full of industry became no small temptation to Catholike men As in Hungarie in the memory of our Ancesters Photinus is said to haue tempted the Church of Sirmion Where whēas with the great liking of al mē hee was called vnto the priesthood and had executed his office for a time like a Catholike suddenly like that euil Prophet or Dreamer which Moses speaketh of hee began to perswade the people of God committed to his trust to follow after strange gods that is to say strange errours which before they knew not But this is vsuall and that dangerous because hee was furnished with no meane helpes to so great a wickednesse For hee had a good wit and hee was an excellent Scholler and very eloquent or powerfull in speech able in both languages to dispute and write eloquently and substantially as appeareth by the monuments of his bookes which hee hath written partly in Greeke and partly in Latine But it was well that the Sheepe of Christ committed to him being very watchfull and wary for the Catholicke Faith had quicke regard to the words of Moses who did forewarne them and that although they did admire the eloquence of their Prophet and Pastor yet notwithstanding they were not ignorant of the temptation For whō before they followed as the Bel-weather of the Flocke euen him they fled frō afterwards as from a Wolfe Neither do wee come to know the perill of this Ecclesiasticall temptation by the example of Photinus but of Apollinaris also and are therby also admonished to the more diligent keeping of the faith which is to be kept For he made his hearers to haue much a doe and brought them into great straites For whereas the authority of the Church drew them one way the custome or conuersation acquaintance of their Maister drew them backe another way and so wagging and wauering betwixt both they see not which way they should rather chuse But it may be he was a man that might easily bee contemned Yea verily he was so worthy a man and so qualified as that he might in the most things be too soone beleeued For who surpast him in acutenes of wit practise and in Schollership How many heresies hee hath ouerthrown in many volumes how many errours contrary to the faith hee hath confuted that most excellent and very huge worke consisting of no lesse then thirty bookes doth witnesse wherein he hath with a great masse of argumēts confounded the furious cauils of Porphiry It is too long to reckō vp all his workes for the which he might intruth be matched with the chiefest builders of the Church had he not through that wicked lust of hereticall curiosity found out what nouelty I wot not by the which he might both defile all his labours as with the mixture of a certaine leprosie and should haue his doctrine said to be not so much an edification as an Ecclesiasticall tentation Heere perhaps some may require at my hands that I would shew them the heresies of these men of whom we spake before to wit Nestorius Apollinaris and Photinus But this is nothing to the matter which now wee are in hand with For our purpose is not to set downe the errours of all but to shew the examples of a few whereby that may euidently and plainely be cleered which Moses speaketh Namely that if at any time any Ecclesiasticall Teacher and hee a Prophet by reason of interpreting the mysteries of the Prophets shal attempt to bring in some new point of doctrine into the Church of God the Diuine prouidence doth suffer it to be done that We might be proued CHAP. 17. IT will not therefore bee amise by way of digression briefly to shew the opinions of the fore-named heretiques that is Photinus Apollinaris Nestorius This is then the doctrine of Photinus that God is single and alone and to bee confessed after a Iudaicall manner he saith that there are not full three persons neither doth he thinke that there is any person of the Word or Son of God or any of the Holy Ghost he doth also say that Christ is a meere man only to whom he ascribeth a beginning from Mary and this he teacheth by all meanes for a doctrine That we ought to worship onely the person of God the Father and onely Christ the Man These things therefore held Photinus Apollinaris also doth as it were glory that hee doth consent vnto the vnity truly of the Trinity and that with perfect soundnes of faith but he doth by open profession blaspheme against the Incarnation of the Lord. For hee saith that the soule of a man was either not at all in the flesh of our Sauiour or else surely that there was such a one as wanted vnderstanding and reason Yea and he said that the very flesh of our Lord was not of the flesh of the holy Virgin Mary but that it came downe from heauen into the Virgin and alwaies staggering and doubting he said sometimes that it was coëternall with the God the Word sometimes that it was made of the Diuinity of the Word For he would not that two substances should bee in Christ one Diuine and another Humane one of a father the other of a mother but he immagined that the nature of the Word was diuided as though a part thereof remained in God and the other had bene turned into the flesh that whereas the truth saith that of two substances there is one Christ he being opposite to the truth might affirme that of one Diuinity of Christ there are two substances These then are the errours of Apollinaris Now Nestorius being sicke of a contrary disease to Apollinaris whiles he makes fare as if hee did distinguish two substances in Christ all on the sudden hee brings in two persons and with incredible wickednes will haue two Sons of God two Christs One of them God the other Man one that is begotten of a Father the other generated of a Mother and therefore hee doth affirme that holy Mary is not to bee called the Mother of God but the Mother of Christ to wit because of her came not Christ who is God but he which was man If so be that any man thinke that hee saith in his letters that Christ is one and that hee speaks of one person of Christ let him not easily giue credit to him For either hee hath deuised this shift through his skil to deceiue that by good things he might the
that neither the distinction of the natures diuideth the vnitie of the person nor the vnitie of the person confounds the difference of the substances Blessed I say be the Church which that it might acknowledge that Christ both is was euer one confesseth that man was vnited to God not after his birth but now euen in the mothers wombe Blessed I say be the Church which vnderstandeth that God was made man not by the conuersion of nature but in regard of person person I say not counterfeit and transient but substantiall and permanent I say blessed bee the Church which affirmeth that this vnity of person is so effectuall as that by reason thereof the things of God are by a wonderfull and vnspeakable mysterie ascribed vnto man and the things of man ascribed vnto God For because of that vnitie it doth not deny that man descended from heauen in respect of the God-head and hath belieued that God was made vpon earth that he suffered and was crucified in regard of the Manhead To conclude by reason of that vnity she doth acknowledge Man to be the Sonne of God and God to be the Sonne of the Virgin Holy therefore and venerable blessed and inuiolable and to that celestiall praising performed of the Angels altogether comparable be this confession which glorifies God with a threefold sanctification For therefore it doth especially tel and glory of the vnitie of Christ least the mysterie of the Trinity should exceed Be these things spoken by way of digressing else where if God shall please they are more largely to be treated of and vnfolded Let vs now returne vnto our purpose CHAP. 23. VVE sayd therefore before that in the Church of God the Teachers error was the peoples temptation and that the tentation was so much the greater by how the the learneder he was that did erre Which we taught first by the authority of Scripture and then by Ecclesiasticall examples to wit by reckoning vp them that though they were for a time accounted sound in the faith yet at the last did either fall into the sect of some other or else deuised an heresie of their owne A matter doubtlesse of great moment both commodious to learne and necessary to be thought of and remembred the which wee ought diligently to illustrate and inculcate with the multitude of ensamples that all Catholikes for the most part may know That they ought with the Church to receiue teachers and not that they should with teachers forsake the faith that the Church embraceth But in my conceit though we might recken vp a number in this kind of tempting yet was there almost none that was so great a temptation as was Origen in whome there were many things so excellent so singular and so admirable that any man might easily iudge at first that all his assertions were to be belieued For if the life doth win authority his industry his chastity patience and sufferance was not small if either kindred or learning Who more noble then he who at the first was borne in that family which was made illustrious by Martyrdome And afterwards hauing for Christ lost not his father onely but all his substance also he did profit so much within the straites of holy pouerty he did often as they say susteine afflictions for confessing the Lord. Neither indeed were these things onely in him all which might afterwards proue a tentation but hee had also such a notable wit so profound so acute and so fine that he did much and farre surpasse almost all and so great was the skill of this notable man in all knowledge and learning as that there were but few things in diuine philosophy of humane it may be almost none which hee did not thorowly vnderstand Who when he had atteined to the learning of the Greekes he gaue himselfe also to the study of the Hebrew But why should I speake of eloquence whose speech was so pleasant so delectable and so sweete that not words me thinkes so much as hony seemed to flow out of his mouth What incredible things did he bolt out and cleer by the force of disputation What things seeming hard to be done did not he make that they should seeme most easie But he woue his assertions it may be onely with the knots of arguments Yea doubtlesse there was neuer any Teacher which vsed more examples or proofes of holy writ But he wrote I beleeue but little No man writ more that I thinke all his works cannot onely not be read ouer but indeede not so much as found And who also that he might not want any helpe to knowledge was furnished with ripenesse of age But perhaps he was not very happy in Disciples Who euer more happy For out of his bosome sprang innumerable Teachers an infinity of Priests Confessors and Martyers And now what man is able to conceiue in what admiration in what renowne and grace he was in with all men What man a little more deuout then ordinary did not with speed resort vnto him from the farthest quarters of the world What Christian did not reuerence him almost as a Prophet what Philosopher honor'd him not as a Maister And how reuerend he was accounted not onely among priuate men but euen of the chiefest in the Empire the Stories doe declare which say that he was sent for by the mother of Alexander the Emperour intruth because of heauenly wisedome which also he did much affect loue But the epistles also of the same mā beare witnes which he wrot by the authority of Christian Teacher to Emperour Philip who was the first Christian of all the Romane Princes Concerning whose incredible knowledge if any man beleeue not a Christian testimony we being the relators let him at the lest receiue a Pagan confession the Philosophers being the witnesses For that wicked Porphicie saith that being moued with his fame he went being in a manner but a boy to Alexandria and that he sawe him there being now an olde man but indeede so notably qualified as one that had attained to the height of all learning The day would sooner faile me then I shall be able to touch euen the smallest part of those excellent things which were in that man which notwithstanding did not only perteine to the glory of religion but also to the greatnesse of temptation For what man among a thousand would easily cast off from him a man of such an excellent wit so great a scholler and of so great account and not rather vse that sentēce That he had rather erre with Origen then iudge truly with other men But what should I make many words It so fell out that not some humane but as the euent declared a too dangerous temptation made by so great a person so great a Teacher so great a Prophet did draw very many frō the soundnesse of the Faith Wherefore this Origen so great and so
doctrines Whom when the Congregation being assembled all together might seeme to incourage to vndertake and to determine something of themselues yet would they giue nothing presume nothing arrogate nothing to themselues at all but by all meanes prouided that they might not deliuer any thing to their posterity which they themselues had not receiued of their Fathers and that they might not only order the matter well for the present but giue example also to them that should suceede that they also might embrace the doctrines of sacred Antiquity and condemne the deuises of prophane Nouelty Wee inueighed also against the wicked presumption of Nestorius because he boasted that he did first and onely vnderstand the holy Scripture and that all those whatsoeuer were ignorāt of it which being teachers before him had handled the Oracles of God to wit all Priests all Confessors and Martyrs some of which had explained Gods word and others had consented or giuen credit to the Explainers of it and lastly because he did affirme that the whole Church doth now erre and that it hath alwaies erred which as to him seemed had both alwaies followed and did now follow ignorant and erroneous Teachers CHAP. 43. ALl which things though they cannot plentifully aboundantly suffice to ouerwhelme and extinguish all prophane nouelties yet least any thing should seeme to bee lacking where there is such plenty of proofe to cleare this point we haue in the last place added a double authority of the Apostlicke See namely one of the holy Pope or Father Xistus who like a reuerend man doth at this present aduance the Church of Rome and the other of his Predecessor of blessed memory Pope Calestine whose authorities wee haue deemed needfull heere also to interpose Pope Xistus then saith in an Epistle which he sent to the Bishop of Antioch about the cause of Nestorius Therefore quoth he because as the Apostle saith there is one Faith which hath euidently preuailed let vs hold those things that are to be beleeued and let vs beleeue those things that are to bee held At the length hee sheweth the things that are to bee held and beleeued and saith Let no libertie quoth he bee giuen at all to Nouelty because it is fitting that nothing should be added to Antiquity Let the manifest faith and credulity of the Elders be troubled with no mixture of mire Speeches altogether Apostolical in that hee adornes the credulity or faith of the Elders by comparing it to the Light for the manifestnesse or clearenesse of it and describes nouell profanities or prophane nouelties by likening them to the mixture of mire But Pope Caelestine also deales in the like manner and is of the same iudgement For he saith in an Epistle which he sent to the French Ministers reprouing their conniuencie because they letting the ancient faith to be iniured through their silence did suffer prophane nouelties to start vp Iustly quoth hee the matter concernes vs if we shall nourish an error with holding our peace Let such men therefore be rebuked let them not haue liberty of speech at such their pleasure Some man here may peraduenture doubt who those may be whom hee forbids that they should haue libertie to speake what they list whether the Preachers of Antiquity or the Deuisers of Nouelty Let him speake himselfe and answer the doubting of the Readers For it followeth Let Nouelty cease saith hee if the case stand thus that is if it bee so that some accuse your Citties and Prouinces to me because you make them to giue consent to certaine Nouelties through your dangerous winking at them Let Nouelty therefore cease saith hee if the matter stand so to inuade and incroach vpon Antiquity This then was the blessed iudgment of blessed Celestine not that Antiquity should cease to ouerthrow Nouelty but rather that Nouelty should cease to gather ground vpon and inuade Antiquity Which Apostolicke and Catholicke decrees whosoeuer doth gainesay hee must needs first of al triumph ouer the memory of Saint Celestine who determined that Nouelty should cease to vexe and inuade Antiquity and in the second place scorne the decrees of holy Xystus who iudged that no liberty at all should be granted to Nouelty because it is meete that nothing shold be added to Antiquity yea contemne the determinatiōs of blessed Cyprian who did greatly extoll the zeale of reuerend Capreolus because hee desired that the doctrines of the ancient Faith should be confirmed and that nouell deuises should be condemned and despise the Counsell of Ephesus also that is the iudgements of the holy Bishops almost of all the East whom it pleased by Gods direction to determine that the Posterity should beleeue no other thing but that which the sacred and in Christ vnanimous Antiquity of the holy Fathers had held and who also with their cryes and exclamations witnessed with one consent that these are the words of all that they did all wish this that they were all of this iudgement that as almost all Heretickes before Nestorius despising Antiquity and desending nouelty should be condemned euen so Nestorius himselfe also should be condemned as an author of Nouelty and an impugner of Antiquity whose consent being inspired by an holy gift and of heauenly grace to whom it is displeasing What else doth follow but that he should affirme that the wickednesse of Nestorius was not iustly condemned and lastly also contemne the whole Church of Christ and his Teachers Apostles and Prophets but yet especially the Apostle Paul as certaine filth or off-scourings Her because she neuer departed frō the religion of the saith once deliuered vnto her to be husbanded carefully lookt vnto and Him because he hath written O Timotheus keep that which is committed vnto thee auoiding profane nouelties of words And also If any one shall preach vnto you otherwise then that yee haue receiued let him be accursed If so be that neither Apostolicall ordinances nor Ecclesiasticall decrees be to be broken by the which according to the sacred consent of the vniuersall and ancient Church all Hereticks alwaies and last of all Pelagius Celestius and Nestorius haue ben iustly and worthily condemned it is necessealy doubtlesse for all Catholickes hereafter which study to shewe themselues the lawfull Children of the Church their Mother that they should sticke and cleaue vnto and dye in the holy faith of the holy Fathers and that they should detest abhorre inueigh against and persecute the profane Nouelties of profane persons These are well nigh the things which being more largely handled in the two Aduertisments are cōtracted as a recapitulation ought to be that my memory for the helping whereof we haue done these things might bee both refreshed by being continually put in minde and not oppressed with wearinesse caused by long discourses Trin-vni Deo Gloria FINIS LONDON Printed by NICHOLAS OKES for LEONARD BECKET and are to be sold at his Shop