conference of Wormes your men that were present there did they not say that the Scripture was a nose of waxe and a Lesoian square And if it were so as you maintaine that the Church is aboue the Scripture it should follow that it were more expedient to find out the head by the testimonie of the members then the members by the testimony of the head It is to the Shepheard that we addresse our selues that he may beare witnesse of his flocke and not contrariwise Turrianus the Iesuite hath abased the maiestie of the word of God so farre as he was able to doe for writing against Sadeel he hath not beene ashamed to spew out after his babling manner Si Scripturam solam fidei regulam in Ecclesia Christus reliquisset quid aliud quam Delphicum gladium haberemus O blasphemer That which strengtheneth the soule giueth wisedome to simple ones that which reioyceth the hearts that which is power from God in saluation vnto all such as beleeue that which is the wisedome of God ordained before all ages vnto our saluation that which is the couenant of God shall it be a Delphian sword You will not haue the common people to reade the Scripture whereunto notwithstanding all manner of people are inuited of whatsoeuer sexe or age they be for feare you say that pearles be cast before Swine For sayth the Cardinall Hosius this prophanation of the Scriptures would make not onely Porters Bakers Shoo-makers and others to become Prophets but women bakers shoomakers and such others of that sex to turne Prophets also Doe you not in that follow the footsteps of the Basilidians and Carpocratians who as Ireneus and Epiphanius write hid their Doctrines We are men sayd Basilides all others are hogges and dogges cast not therefore pearles before hogges and things that are holy before dogges The epithers which you doe attribute vnto your selues to wit spirituall persons Church men doe make the way plaine for you that you may approach vnto the cabinet of those heretickes that there you may contemplate that which is not permitted to those beggerly seculars and laymen to behold And if you should permit the reading of the holy Scriptures vnto all persons indifferently you would be afraid that all Gods people would turne Prophets and therein you are very farre wide of the wish of Moyses The heretickes of Ireneus his time being reproued by the Scriptures began to accuse them of darknesse and insufficiencie saying that the truth thereof could not be found by those that were ignorant of traditions that they had receiued the truth by hearing and by a cabale from the father to the sonne for which cause S. Paul sayd we speake wisedome among the perfect It is the same buckler that you hold vp before you to saue your traditions with but it is so weake that the strokes haue made the light shine through it And that du Peron to the end that he might shew his loquence hath set forth his detestable Booke of the insufficiencie of the Scripture a Booke spewed out of hell and whose author can be no other then Sathan And who were able to make an end if it behoued vs to set downe the hatred and malice which you haue conceiued against the Scripture This example will be a proofe namely when you hold so manifestly that it is not necessary and that the Apostles were not commanded to write but onely to preach Haue you not in like manner minced some morcels of the holy Epistles and Euangiles in the Masse together with some currant prayer to the end that you might the more easily purchase authoritie and fauour vnto your Pompilian idolatries This is the same very practise of Sergius Mahomets Doctor who hath infected the holy Law with a gallemafrey of fables and heresies that he hath placed in the Alchoran Montanus confessed indeede that he embraced all manner of Scripture but he inuented moreouer that the Paraclet was come to finish that which was onely begun as Epiphanius writeth So likewise you hold the canon of the Scripture to be imperfect doe remit the perfecting thereof to your Paraclet of Rome CHAP. X. Of Traditions MAking mention of Traditions we will begin at the Councell of Trent whereof behold here a solemne decree The Councell of Trent receiueth and honoureth with the like affection and reuerence of pietie all the Bookes of the old and new Testament seeing that one onely God is the author of both the one and the other and the Traditions themselues which belong vnto faith as well as vnto discipline as being endited either by the mouth of Christ or by the holy Ghost and haue beene preserued by a continuall succession in the Catholick Church This decree hath made me wonder as it were because of the disposition thereof which is turned vpside downe It is knowne how that traditions are the very proppes of your Religion and the hinge wherupon all the inuentions that are among you doe mooue As touching the holy bookes which the Councell confoundeth not putting difference betweene the Apocryphall and the Canonicall they are nothing according to your iudgement but light armed Harquebusers and lances on horsebacke to guard and defend onely those great armies of Traditions This was the ordinarie buckler of those auncient heretickes Valentin Ebion Apelles Marcion and such others who did boast themselues that they had receiued many doctrines and traditions from the Scripture And thereupon as Ireneus and Tertullian write they confessed after a generall manner that in Iesus Christ consisted all treasures of wisedome and knowledge and that on him was grounded all perfection of doctrine but to the end that they might colour or plaster their dreames and adde more weight and beautie to their inuentions they maintained with a brasen face that the Apostles in so farre as they were men were ignorant of diuerse mysteries that were necessarie for mans saluation or else that of purpose they had concealed and kept backe certaine points the knowledge whereof they reserued for the more perfect sort of their posteritie not willing as yet to reueale them to the world as being vnworthie of the knowledge of so goodly traditions and that they were those that they taught Eusebius writes that Artemon the hereticke bragged that his doctrine was gathered out of the Apostolicke traditions Clement Alexandrin sayth that Basilides gloried in this that one Glaucus was his teacher who had beene S. Peters interpreter that Valentin did boast in like manner that he had beene S. Pauls auditor and that the Marcionists bragged that they were the Disciples of those which had heard and conuersed with the Apostle S. Mathias whose doctrine they allowed taught and obserued as the like also is sayd among you concerning your traditions notwithstanding that you can neither find out the cause nor origine thereof and that not without reason seeing they are
not grounded on the Scripture And how should they be so seeing that for the most part they were inuented more then a thousand yeares after the death of the Apostles such as monasticall rules and others of that sort are Truly you cannot deny either that they haue beene vnknowne or else haue beene kept backe for the knowledge of the posteritie to wit of you my Masters the Prelates that haue the keys to draw whole bags full of them out of your Councels either generall or prouinciall and out of the determinations of your Sorbonists or Iesuites Let vs see farther what is the chiefe foundation of your traditions the most beautifull plants and roses of the garden of the Romish Church Behold it is here That the Apostles knew not all things or if they haue knowne all things and none of them hath preached otherwise then the rest did that they haue not taught all things to all persons Is not this to accuse those great Stewards of the Church of ignorance of cowardlinesse and that they haue not dealt vprightly in their calling That they haue not beene faithfull obseruers of the Couenant or new Testament whereof the preaching was committed vnto them The Ambassador hath no power to dispense with his Masters will It is the dutie of a seruant to discharge things faithfully in their fulnesse and as he hath beene commaunded to doe In the making of our contracts or testaments we would not suffer the notarie and witnesses to keepe backe a part thereof and not to beare ful testimony of our will vnlesse they would incurre the danger of punishment and can that be tolerated in a matter of so great moment to wit in the Testament which the sonne of God hath ratified by his death The Apostles hauing declared faithfully the whole will of their maister and hauing discharged their businesse very well it were sacriledge and an intollerable blasphemie to accuse them either because they knew not or were not able or would not beare witnesse of the kingdome of God as they were enioyned to doe I could here insert that ample discourse which Tertullian maketh in answering to the arguments of the heretickes as also what infallible prescription he vseth against them but to be briefe I will send you backe to that which himselfe hath written and hath spoken to you as well as to the heretickes of his time Ireneus that was a disciple of the disciples of the Apostles writing in expresse termes of the true iustifying faith which the Church receiued from the Apostles and hath deliuered from hand to hand vnto their children is no other thing then the Gospell that we haue receiued from the Apostles themselues for as much as they first preached the same with their mouth and thereafter penned it to the end that it might be the foundation the pillar and proppe of our faith Then without the Gospell we cannot imagine any doctrine of saluation what name or title so euer it haue For Christ and the Apostles haue left vnto vs by writ all whatsoeuer is necessarie vnto true pietie and honest conuersation Why then doe you alledge vnto vs the insufficiencie of the written word Truely it must needs be that those famous men Hierome Cyprian and the Fathers that were assembled in the Councell of Laodicea had a beame in their eye when they could not perceiue that which you say is more cleare to you then the Sunne is in the noone-day to wit that the holy and canonicall Bookes were not sufficient to proue matters concerning faith and charitie and that we must haue recourse vnto traditions and the vnwritten word And for this cause when we goe about to conuict you by the proofes of the Scripture that we may declare what harmonie and agreement is betweene you and the Marcionists the Valentinians the Ebioneans the Apellians by imitating of them you couer your selues with this buchler to wit that the Scripture is obscure and that the truth cannot be fully collected from thence vnlesse we helpe our selues with the vnwritten traditions which the Apostles deliuered from their owne mouth without Scripture And what manner of things are they which they would haue vs to embrace vnder this pretence The forbidding of certaine meates on certaine dayes the forbidding of a certaine order of persons to marrie Lent chastitie and such like things that belong not to faith but to a simple custome which is diuers in diuers places according to the humour of such as beare rule in the Church These are the things of so great weight as you will haue them to be which Bellarmine sayth that the Apostles did not preach to the common people to whom they ministred simply that which was necessarie and profitable vnto them but concerning other things to wit those weighty matters before mentioned they taught them apart and in priuate vnto those that were of greatest vnderstanding that therafter they might deliuer them from hand to hand vnto those that should be found most capable of them Are not these goodly reasons Reasons that are so pertinent that it hath seemed expedient vnto you to make vp huge Tomes thereof that haue bin published wherunto notwithstanding our writers haue not failed to answer reasōs I say that are so vnreasonable that you cannot deny that by the meanes thereof you collude and agree with the auncient heretickes The chiefe argument of those of Ireneus and Tertullians time which was ordinarie in their mouths was grounded on that which our Sauiour saith to his Apostles That he had yet many things to say vnto them but that they could not beare them Of this did S. Austin complaine in his time and chiefly in two places of his workes In the first he vseth these termes All the madder sort of heretickes who will be called Christians doe labour to shadow the boldnesse of their inuentions which the vnderstanding of man doth euen abhorre by taking hold of these words of the Gospell where the Lord sayth I haue yet many things to say vnto you but you cannot beare them now In the second he writeth thus And sith our Lord hath made no mention of them which of vs will say they are such or such like things Or if he were so bold as to say so how could he be able to proue it For who will be so foolish or so rash when he hath sayd all that he listeth to whom pleaseth him best although it be true as to affirme without any diuine proofe that he hath spoken those things which our Lord would not reueile at that time And if S. Austin hath written after this manner against the heretickes of his time If Ireneus and Tertullian could not endure the Gnostiques and others to abuse the same why may not we doe after the same manner with you to the end that we may exclude all the fansies of men We will adde further to that which is said before how that
Manicheans k In Psalm 119. Nestorians Monothelites l Alan lib. 2. de Euch. chap. 9. a August ad Dard. Epist. 57. b Iren. lib. 4. aduer haer c Tom. 1. Conc. 2. Christolites a Docebat Manes ante aduentum Christi neminem saluatum fuisse ideÌ„ fere est quod Pontificij teneÌ„t neminem in coelos receptum ante ascensioneÌ„ Christi vide Epiph. haer 66. Bellar. de Christo lib. 4. c. 11. b Andrad lib. 3. Orth. fid c Catarinus in comment 1. Timoth Pelagians Pelagians a Pighius in lib. Contro Controu de peccato origin b Rom. 5. v. 12. Rom. 6. v. 23. Eph. 2. v. 1. 4. v. 8. Col. 2. v. 13. c Iuassert defens d Andr in defen Conc Trid. e Francis Mar. in lib. sapient f Occam in lib. 2. sentent g Cha. in 2. verit h Amb. lib de parad August Euch. cap. 45. Prosper de gratia Dei Tertul aduer Iudaeos i Richeome lib. 3. cap. 41. pag. 246. Manicheans a August haeres 88. Catharians Pelagians b Bâ—llar de grat libert 6. c. 15. c Retract lib. 1. cap. 19. d Eph. 5. e Col. 2. f 1. Cor. 2. g 1. Cor. 1. h 2. Cor. 3. i Math. 11. 16. Ioan. 15. Rom. 1. 7. 8. 11. k Ezech. 11. Rom. 2. Esa. 48. Hierem. 17. Hierem 23. l Rom. 6. m In his booke against the coÌ„fession of Antvverpe Chap. 6. n August de graÌ„ liber arbit cap. 17. De corrept gra ca. 2. De dogmat Eccles cap. 32. Debono perseuer De praedestin sanctor 7. In Psat. 31. 70. o Chrysost. hom 1. in Aduentu p Hieronym in Ierem. cap. 13. Dial. cont Pelag. q Amb. l. 9. epist. 71. 73. r Prosp. Aquit in sent 44. s Bernard in caÌ„t cantic serm 50. t Cap. 8. This Councell also in the title where he speaketh against the Pelagians chap. 110. 111. 112. and those that follow u In the decrees from the first to the eleuenth and from the 20. to the 25. x Cap. 4. y Looke the Can. Per Baptismum Can. firmissimè tene â—aen placuit vt quicunque dixerit de consecr dist 4. * Bellarm. de amiss grat lib. 1. cap. 4. Anomians a Psal. 19. b Deut. 17. c Deut. 6. d 2. Thes. 2. e Zach. 1. f Molan de Theol pract tract 3. cap. 16. conclus nu 11. g Can. PerlatuÌ„ C. Venerabiles de Consec dist 3. h Thorn Aqu. 3. part summae quaest 25. art 4. i The Pope dispenseth with vowes oaths giues licence to breake the oath made either to God or to the Prince or to any hereticke Caus. 15. Can. Alius et Can. Nos sanctoruÌ„ quaest 6 The Priscillianists as S. Austin writes lib. de haeres 8. gaue free libertie to periurie teaching each another thus sweare forsweare c. k The same very words of Peter Chaestels interrogatorie are set downe by Mr Arnaud pag. 30. and 31. l The Canon dilectissimis caus 12. willeth that not onely possessions but wiues also be common And the Canon Christiano dist 34. which sayth That a Christian ought to haue but one wise or a concubine instead of a wise m Deut. 6. n Torren lib. de residentia a August lib. de praedest sanctorum Debono perseuerantia De natura gratia De fide et operib b Act. 4. v. 12. Timoth. 2. v. 19. Rom. 8. c 1. Cor. 1. Pelagians d Cathar in comment sup epist. ad Rom. cap 8. a Claudius Espensaeus in epist. ad Tit c. 1. testatur inter Episcopos Pontificios esse quiscripturarum lectionem tam periculosam iudicent vt ab ea prae metu caueant ne sic siant haeretici b Looke the 3. veritie of CharroÌ„ cap. 13 4. Bellarm lib. 4. de verbo Dei cap. 3. Du Perron in the treatise of traditions where he sheweth that the Scripture is not sufficient to beare witnesse of the truth c Eusebhistor lib. 7. cap. 30. Samosatenus d August lib. 2. de nuptijs concup ca. 33. e Bellarm. tem 1. lib. de verbo Dei non scripto cap. 4. f Tertul. de praescript g Iren. lib 4. cap. 43. 44. h Eckius in Enchir loâ—oruÌ„ communium Pighius lib. 1. Ecclestast Hierarch cap. 2. i Holden in anno 1557. k Lib 1. cont Sadeel pag. 99. l Jndex lib. prohib edit à Pie 4. reg 4. m Hesius in loc is communibus n Iren. lib. 1. cap. 23. Epiph. haeres 24. Basilidians Carpocratians Iren. lib. 3. cap. 2. Num. 11. v. â—9 Sergius Montanus p Epip haeres 48. a Session 4. c. 1. Pari fide pietatis affectu Valentin Ebion Apelles Marcion b Iren. cont Valent. cap. 1. c Tertul. de praescrip haeret d Euseb. hist. lib. 5. cap 28. Artemon e Clem. Alexand. Strom. lib. 7. Basilides Valentin Marcionists f Tert. de praescript haeret pag. 95. ex aedit Froben 1522. g Lib. cont haeres Valent. in praefat in princip lib. 1. h Notwithstanding the Pope will haue his Decretall Epistles placed among the Canonical books and to be equall with the holy Scripture dist 19. can In Canonicis i Hieronym in praesat in lib. Salom k Cypr. in symb pag. 377. l Concil Laodic cap. 59. m Iren. cont Valent l. 3. c. 12. n Tert. de praescript o Ioan. 16. p August in Joan. tract 97. q August in Ioa. tract 96. Gnostiques r 1. Cor. 2. v. 6. Carpocratians s Iren. lib. 2. c. 2. 3. t Athan orat 2. cont Arrian u August haeres 26. Montanus Donatists a Hieron in Psal. 133. b Chrysost. hom 49. in Math. c August lib. de past cap. 4 Marcionists Messalians Euchites Epiph. haeres 22. 60. 8. b Vide de Consecrat distinct 5. Can. Omnes fideles Can. Spiritus Sanctus c Theodor lib. de fab haeret d Leu. 19. 10. Deut. 8. e De Conse dist 4 Can. Siue Can. Sal. Can. dehine Vid Raban Man de instit cleric l. cap. 27. 28. Conc. Brachat c. 1. Concil Agath cap. 13. f De Conse dist 4 Can. Symbolum Can. Prima Iuo l. 1. de Baptis Vide RabaÌ„ vt su De Conse dist 4. Can. Deinde can Venisti Can. Postquam Can. emersesti Marcus Marcosius Valentinus g Epiph. l. 2. tom 3. haeres 34. Ireu l. 1. c. 18. Marcionists Quintilians Cataphrigians Montanists Pepuzians Priscillians Artotirites h Vide Epiph. l. 1. tom 3. haer 42. toÌ„ 1. l. 2. haeres 49. August haeres 27 i De consecr dist 4 can mulier Durand rat l 6. Rubr. de Baptis k Exod. 4. l August l. 2. c. 13 cont epist. ParmeÌ„ m Conc. Carthag cap. 100. n In the booke named Manip sacerd part 1. pag 20. o Iren. l. 1. cap. 8. p Sic Ebionitae aqua lustrali se purificabant August haer 9. Epiph. hares 30. a In 4. Sentent b Epiph. hares 34 Marcites c August l. cont hares c.