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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

be our rule Also in his definitions quaest 98. Eos qui praesunt extra Scripturae Canonem nihil praecipere debere ne falsi Dei testes et sacrilegi inveniantur They saith he who rule the people ought to command nothing beyond the Canon of the Scriptures lest they befound false witnesses of God sacrilegious And in his Epistle of Apostasie to the Bishops of the West he complaines Semen Apostasiae spargi in illis ipsis Ecclesiis inquibus Evangelii doctrina primum per orbem manavit that the seed of Apostacy was sown in those very Churches whence the Doctrine of the Gospell was first spread through the world His works extant at this day are comprehended in three Tomes and are either doctrinall as Hexameron or of the world made in six daies eleven Homilies of the Divinity of the Sonne and that the holy Ghost is not a creature against Eunomius Where is to be understood that there were three Families of the Arians Arius held the Son to be equall to the Father but by grace not by Nature The Macedonians companions of the Arians affirmed the Sonne to bee like the Father but not the holy Ghost Eunomius held the Sonne to bee totally unlike the Father because the creature can by no meanes be like the Creator Saint Basil also wrote Sermons of the humane generation of Christ also of Baptisme Or his workes are expository as Sermons upon some of the Psalms a glosse upon the whole Psalter and the sixteene first Chapters of Esay Other of his works are Morall as his Sermons against drunkennesse of Wrath of Humility of Envy Also his Sermons called Asceticos or of the manners of Monks of those who aspire to an Angelicall Life The errours of S. Basilius are that hee too Hyperbollically extols fasting and a Monkish life though indeed hee describes such Monks as peculiarly exercise themselves in piety and good workes to whom the Monkes of our times are as much unlike as Crowes to Swans By the singular providence of God it came to passe that the heresies of the Arians and Pelagians beginning to spring up in the same time almost there arose famous Doctors to confute them For Hieronymus Stridonensis Pannonius lived in part of the time of Saint Ambrose and Saint Basil He was brought up at Rome and was famous in the yeare 390. He travelled over the greatest part of Europe to conferre with learned men and at length chose himselfe a place of abode in Iudaea in the fields of Bethlem where he wrote many of those things which at this day wee enjoy Hee is painted with a Cardinals Hat whereas hee rather led a Monasticke life and those red Hats were given in ages long after to some certaine Priests of the Roman Church by Pope Paul the second ann 1460. as Platina testifieth The stile of S. Hierome is elegant for he was learned and a great Linguist Hee wrote many things whereof some are Expositions upon the Psalms and upon the greater and the lesser Prophets also upon Saint Matthew and some Epistles of Saint Paul as to the Galatians and Ephesians For the Commentary which goes under his name upon the Epistle to the Romans savours too much of Pelagianisme which hee ever opposed Other of his writings are Controversiall and Apologeticall as against Helvidius concerning the perpetuall Virginity of the Virgin Mary against Iovinianus and Vigilantius Also against the Pelagians and an Apology against Ruffinus Some againe are Paraeneticall or instructive as of the life of Clergy men and concerning the Institution of a mother of the Family Hee seemeth to have a wit somewhat Arrogant and fiery which appeareth not onely by his sharpe writings and Epistles against Saint Austin but also that sometimes hee accuseth the Apostle Saint Paul himselfe of rudenesse of stile and ignorance in the Greeke tongue Beza often complaines of his wresting the Scriptures especially against Wedlocke See the Annotations of Beza on 1 Cor. 7. 1 Tim. 3. 1 Pet. 3. But it is remarkeable that although hee was an enemy to Wedlocke yet in his Age both Bishops and Priests were married for so he writeth in cap. 6. ad Ephes Legant haec Episcopi et Presbyteri qui filios suos saecularibus libris erudiunt Let those Bishops and Priests saith hee read these things who instruct their children in secular bookes But he often with too much bitternesse inveighes against Vigilantius and Iovinianus for contending with him that Wedlocke and single Life were of equall merit as also that the Rewards of the Just were alike in that life and that no choyce was to be made of Meats if they were received with thankes-giving that the ashes of Martyrs were not to be adored nor the Vespers to bee celebrated at their Scpulchers that the Saints deceased pray not for us Hee contended unseasonably with Saint Austin concerning Saint Peter that he never erred and that hee was reprehended by Saint Paul not seriously but in jest Gal. 2. How much the state of the Church was disturb'd in those Times appeares by that Learned booke of Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus which he wrote against 80 Heresies which worke is worthy the perusall for the variety of story contained in it Then also lived Theodoret Bishop of the City Cyrus in Persia who wrote five bookes of the history of the Church and Polymorphum where in three Dialogues most worthy the reading he defends the truth of both Natures in Christ against the Hereticks of his time In the time of Arcadius and Honorius Emperours lived Iohannes Chrysostomus whose Eloquence and Zeale farre exceeded his knowledge in the Scriptures Wherefore he excels more in morals than in Doctrines and Expositions For oftentimes hee philosophizeth too subtilly Yet is hee often cited by our Divines in the interpretation of Greeke words especially in the Epistles of Saint Paul Vulgarus Theophilactus was afterward his imitator and abreviator but an Authour lesse pure It was reprehensible in Saint Chrysostome that hee was too chollericke and free of speech by which hee incurred the great displeasure of many Aurelius Augustinus by Nation an African ought not to be accounted the last amongst the Doctors of the Church Hee was instructed in Rhetoricke at Carthage and was a follower of the Maniches nine yeares together Hee relates a great part of his owne life in his Confessions Afterward being often admonished by Saint Ambrose or rather converted by God upon the abundant teares and prayers of his mother hee turned into the right way and succeeded Valerius Bishop of Hippona in Africa about the yeare 390. He sustained many sharpe Conflicts with the Maniches Arians Donatists and Pelagians whom he confuted by learned writings and personally by word of mouth Hee dyed a little before the first Ephesine Councell when Hippone was besieged in the yeare of his Age 76. Gregory 1. Bishop of Rome had his workes in so great esteeme that hee thus writes lib. 8.

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

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

refici possint Quid quod filio Dei quaedam tradita sunt quae non habeat ut homo fieret All things are given him as a Physician that should heale the biting of the Serpent as to the life that quickeneth as to a light illuminating this is spoken in regard of his office God saith hee hath granted that as by him all things are made so by him all things may be refreshed What if wee say that some things are given to the Sonne of God that he had not before that he should be made man Moreover against Schwenckfeld in the same Treatise Vtrumque de Christo est credendum illum esse Deum et omnia creasse et esse hominem et ita creatum et creaturam qualis est homo Hominum enim proprium est creari Both saith he are to be beleeved of Christ that he was a God and created all things and that he was a man and so created and a creature such as manis for it is proper to men to be created Also against the Papisticall canonization of impious men in his Epistle To all the godly founded and sanctified in Christ Hinc quoq Heresis agnosci et convinci potest quòd quisquis ipsis charus est et eiusdem impietatis socius etiam si aliis delictis et infinitis sceleribus obnoxius et adversus se habeat argument a scelerum suorum probus apud eos et in pretio habetur quin imo statim Imperatoris amicus efficitur commendabilis scilicet sua impietate Qui vero corum impietatem redarguit et quae Christi sunt sincere procurant isti tametsi puri in omnibus modo crimen in eos confingatur in exilium abripiuntur Hence may Heresie be knowne and convinced that whosoever is deare to them and a companion in the same Impiety although he be guilty of sundry crimes and infinite vices and hath arguments against himselfe of his owne hainous acts yet he is approved and had in great esteeme amongst them yea and is forthwith made the Emperours friend and is commendable for his Impiety But those who reprove their wickednesse and teach the things sincerely which are of Christ such though pure in all things upon any feigned crime layd to their charge are presently hurried into banishment To Athanasius we may joyne Eusebius the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine who got the sir-name of Pamphilus from his friend Pamphilus the Martyr and in the Nicene Synod joyned himselfe to the Orthodox although in the beginning he wavered a little as saith Sozomen lib. 1. hist cap. 20. He was very learned in the Languages History and Philosophy Hee wrote a History from the Nativity of Christ to the time of Constantine the great inclusively which Socrates the Schooleman and Hermias Sozomenus continued from Constantine to Theodosius the first and Honorius and Evagrius to the time of Maurice the Emperour vulgarly called the Tripartite History Eusebius wrote also a Chronicle which is yet extant and a booke of Evangelicall demonstration and preparation in which he compares the Evangelicall Doctrine with Philosophy and other Religions and solidly demonstrates no Doctrine to be more perfect than the Evangelicall as also that in the Gospell many things better and more certaine are contained than in any other Doctrine whatsoever He was suspected indeed by some to have privily favoured Arius but an Apology for him is extant in Socrates lib. 2. cap. 17. Yet in the beginning of the same History Socrates doth not dissemble this fault of Eusebius that writing the life of Constantine which is comprehended in foure bookes he lightly blamed the deeds of Arius and that hee predicated the vertues of that Emperour concealing his vices and that he studied more to render his Oration illustrious wherein he highly praised him and to adorne it with Majesticall words than diligently to explaine the things done He had another blemish common with him and many Greeke Authors which Bodin not undeservedly imputes to him in his method of History which is that retaining somewhat of the Grecian vanity hee relates not a few fabulous things which have little or no appearance of Truth As of an Epistle of Aglarus King of the Edisseni to Christ and of Christs answer to him of Saint Iohn the Apostle and a certaine young man by him recalled from the society of Theeves also of the finding out of the Woodden Crosse and of its vertue of Saint Peter who desired a certaine kinde of death to wit Crucifying and governd the Roman Church 25. yeares which how farre it is from Truth Calvin amongst others sheweth lib. 4. Instit cap. 6. sect 14. But as Gelasius admonisheth in cap. 3. lib. 3. Irenaei it is very likely those great men were deceived by a certaine vulgar opinion not enquiring into things diligently neither could they imagine what Engines Satan was then preparing to raise up the kingdome of Antichrist After Eusebius and Athanasius who died under Valentinianus in the yeare 379 Hilarius is rightly placed He was Bishop of the Picts in France and lived in the time of Constantine the sonne of Constantine the Great and his life extended even to the reigne of Valentinian Saint Hierom preferres him before other Doctors of the Church and although younger was his familiar friend His stile is such as rightly warnes Erasmus that it is hard to be understood easie to be deprav'd yet Saint Hierom calls him the Trumpet of the Latine tongue perhaps because hee was the first that confuted the Arians in that Language His workes are extant publish'd at Basil anno 70. by Eusebius Episcopius and are partly controversiall partly expository He wrote 12. bookes of the Trinity against the Arians also an Epistle against Constantine being then dead who was the chiefe favourer of the Arian Faction and against Auxentius the Millanist a fautor of the Arian party as also of divers Synods against the Arians which booke hee translated for the most part out of Greeke from the Synodicall decrees His expository bookes are a Commentary upon Matthew but a short one as also upon many Psalmes all which are comprehended in one Tome Hee hath many faults For first hee hath many hard and unusuall words as disfrocit for degenerate Zabolus for Diabolus and many more of the like kind Next he affirmes the holy Ghost to be from the Father by the Sonne lib. 10. de Trinit and upon the 8. Psalme he attributes a soule and a body to Christ not subject to any molesting affections and averres that thirst and hunger were not natural in him He seemes to maintaine the body of Christ to bee borne and brought forth by the Virgin Mary not to be made of her substance lib. 10. de Trinit In his commentary upon Saint Matthew he too much inclines to the Allegories of Origen Next Hilarius wee may rightly place Saint Ambrose Bishop of Millan who lived in the times of Valentinianus Gratianus Theodosius and Honorius

himselfe confesseth lib. de captivitate Babylonic This was the Scholasticall Divinity full of sharpe and subtle questions contentions and contradictions While some made it a question whether or no the Virgin Mary were conceived in Originall sin the maintainers of which Tenent were the Dominicans the Opposers the other Monkes Others demanded whether or no the Pope were simply a man or in part a god and whether hee were above a Councell or no. Of which times Peucerus rightly admonisheth us in Chronic. speaking of the times of Frederic 2. and Charles 4. Duplex inquit genus hominum exortum est quo Sathan papatum fulcivit Canonistarum qui collectis variis decretis et Canonibus tyrannidem pontificiam stabiliverunt et novum forum constituerunt et Scholasticorum quorum Theologia ex male detortis Scripturae et patrum Sententiis i●sque confusis tum Platonicis et Aristotelicis disputationibus et Pontificum placitis consuta sacra Biblia et praecipua doctrinae de vera Dei invocatione de vero usu Sacramentorum de fide justificatione veris cultibus atque etiam patrum vetustiorum Scripta de cordibus et manibus hominum excussit Two sorts of men saith hee then arose by which Satan supported the Papacy First the Canonists who by a collection of various decrees and Canons strengthened the Pontificall Tyranny and erected a new Court The Schoolemen next who by composing their Divinity out of ill-wrested sentences out of the Scriptures and the Fathers and those confus'd with Platonicall and Aristo ellicall Disputations and Ordinances of the Popes have forc'd the holy Bible out of mens hearts and hands together with the chiefe heads of Doctrine touching the true Invocation of God and the true use of the Sacraments Faith Justification true Worships and not onely these but the writings also of the most ancient Fathers Yet did God stirre up some in severall Ages who abhorred those subtilties and betooke themselves to his Law and Testimonies although as those times were palpably darke and obscure they could not free themselves from Errors and Superstition One of these was Nicholas de Lyra 1320. who wrote upon the old and new Testament and on the third to the Galatians Hee affirmes Faith alone to justifie Another was Iohn Witcliffe an Englishman anno 1364. who discover'd many errors and superstitions of the Papacy whose Doctrine afterwards Iohn Husse embraced and Hierome of Prage who were both burned in the Councell of Constance But at length by the Divine Providence it came to passe anno 1577. that the sincere and incorrupt Doctrine of the Gospell and the whole method of Teaching was instituted and reformed by those great men Luther Philip Melancthon Zwinglius Bucerus Oecolampadius Calvin and others so that it is most true which Cyprian writes lib. 1. epist 4. In plerisque Famulis suis dignatur Deus ostendere ●edintegrationem Ecclesiae et post longas pluvias serenitatem God vouchsafeth saith hee in most of his servants to shew the redintegration of his Church and after much ●aine serenity Laus et Gloria sacrae Trinitati FJNJS Polycarpus Ignatius Irenaeus Sayings of his not iustifiable Iustinus Martyr What is lesse approveable in Iustinus Martyr The Alexandrian School Clemens Alexandrinus Harsh saying of his Origen The errors of Origen The five books of Moses Tertullian His blemishes Curiosities of speech Cyprianus His blemishes Gregorius Neocaesariensis Arnobius Lactantius His staines Athanasius The works of Athanasius 〈◊〉 Defects Memorable sayings of his Eusebius His blemishes Hilarius His blemishes S. Ambrose His writings * The workes of the six days His defects Basilius Gregorius Nazianzenus Saint Basil The worth ● sayings of S. Basil His blemishes ●ieronymus His errours Theodoretus Chrysostomus Theophilactus The errors of S. Chrysostome S. Augustinus The workes of S. Austin His errors Cyrillus Vigilius Primasius Prosper Helychius Fulgentius Leo 1. Greg. 1. The dotage of S. Gregory Damascenus Bernhardus Isidorus Beda Haimo Rabanus Lanfrancus Albertus Magnus Peter Lombard * Impotency Iohannes Scotus Another Scotus Capreoius Gerson Biel Petrus de Alliaco Whence Luther derives his opinion of the Lords Supper Nicholas de Lyra. I●h●nnes Witcliffe Iohn Husse Hierome of Prage