A Confutation of a Popish and Slanderous Libel, Treatise · Answer 23 – Papist opinion 24
The aunswere.
In this your fowerth argumente, if it maie bee called an argumente, you huddle vp a number of Ceremonies, together, all whiche out of Basile, you would proue to bee Traditions of the Apostles. In deede Basile in the. xxvij. Chapiter of his booke De spiritu sancto, is driuē to this shifte, that either he must acknowledge many suche vnfruictfull Ceremonies, as in his tyme were crepte into the churche, to be vnprofitable, or els to flie to the tradition of vnwritten verities. The same in effecte ceaceth Augustine, and yet neither of bothe, was so ignoraunte, but that at suche time as thei did throughly consider, either the dignitie of the holie scriptures, or the natures of suche humaine Traditions, thei iudged otherwise of the whole matter. For Basile in his moralles Diffinit. xxvi. saieth. foreign &c. that it behoueth eueryevery woorde, and deede, to bee aucthorised by the testimonie of the scripture inspired of God, bothe for the certaine perswasion of the good, and the confusion of the euill. And in the 8. diffini. foreign. &c. If all that is not of faith, is synne, as the Apostle saieth, and faithe is of hearyng, and hearyng by the woorde of God, what so euer is beside the diuine scripture, beyng not of faithe, is synne. VponUpon whiche conclusion, a manne maie inferre, that all suche Traditions, as Basile before defended, beyng beside the scriptures, ar sinne. The same Basile in his brief diffinitions to this question, whether it be profitable for theim, that come newlie to the faithe, immediately to bee instructed out of the scriptures? Maketh this aunswere. foreign. &c. It is bothe conueniente, and necessarie, that eueryevery manne far his necessarie vse, should learne out of the diuine scriptures, bothe that he maie bee certainely perswaded in his Religion, and also, that he bee not before accustomed to humaine Traditions. Let this therfore suffice for sainct Basile to aunswere hymself.
Saincte Augustine also in his 118. Epistle, where he speaketh moste fauourably for Traditions, hath these woordes. Sed hoc nimis doleo, quod multa quae in diuinis libris saluberrimè praecepta sunt, minus curantur & tam multis praesumptionibus, sic plena sint omnia, vt grauius corripiatur, qui per octauas suas terram nudo pede tetigerit, quam qui mē tem vinolentia sipelire est. But this (saieth Augustine) dooeth greue me to muche, that many thinges, whiche in Gods boke, are moste wholsemly commaunded, are lesse regarded, and all thynges are so full of presumptions, that he is more sharpely reproued, whiche hath touched the yearth with his bare foote, in tyme of his vtas, then he that hath buried his mynde with dronkennes.
And in the same place he saieth, of Traditions: Quamuis enim ne que hoc inueniri possit, quomodo contra fidem sint: ipsam tamen religionem, quam paucissimis, & manifestissimis celebrationum Sacramentis, misericordia dei esse liberam voluit, seruilibus oneribus premunt, vt tolerabilior sit conditio Iudaeorum qui etiam si tempus libertatis non agnouerint, legalibus tamen sarcinis, nō humanis praesumptionibus subijciuntur. that is to saie. For although this can not bee founde, how thei are contrary to the faithe, yet thei oppresse with sclauishe burdeins, the religion it self, whiche the merciemercy of God, would hauehave to bée free, with moste fewe, and manifeste Sacramentes of celebrations: So that the state of the Iewes, is more tollerable then ours: for although thei hauehave not acknowledged the tyme of libertie, yet thei are subiecte to burthens laied on theim by the lawe, not to humaine presumptions.
By this you see Augustines right iudgemente, of suche vnprofitable Ceremonies, and Traditions. Whiche althoughe Basile, and he cōiecture, and gesse to hauehave béen receiued of the Apostles, because thei knewe none other originall of theim, yet it dooeth not followe, that thei were deliuered by the Apostles in deede. For many of theim (if your owne aucthours dooe not lye) were instituted by diuers Popes of Rome, long after the age of the Apostles. And some it is plaine, were inuented by heretikes. For the firste that we read of, in any auncient, and authenticall writer, that hadde in reuerence the signe of the Crosse, were the Valentiniane heretikes as witnesseth Irenaeus, libri primi. Capit. 1. whiche thei called Oron crucem confirmatiuam, the strengthenyng Crosse. And abused the testimonies of sainct Paule, as you Papistes doe, where he saieth verbum crucis. &c. The woorde, or preachyng of the crosse, & mihi non eueniat gloriari. &c. God forbidde that I should reioyce, but in the Crosse of Christe. But afterwarde true Christians vsed that signe, to testifie vntounto Heathen menne, that thei were Christians, and were not ashamed of the ignominious death of Christ, whiche the Gē tiles did dispightfully caste in their teeth, and at length it grewe to a meare superstition, and laste of all, to moste horrible Idolatrie, when the Image of the Crosse was worshipped, sensed, and praied vntounto.
Praier towarde the Easte, was vsed of the Christians, in the aunciente Church, to testifie, that thei differed from the Iewes, who praied towarde the West, least thei should seem to worshippe the Sunne risyng, as the Gentiles did. And although woordes of inuocation were vsed, at the shewyng of the bread, and the Cuppe, yet was there no inuocation, of the Sacramentall breade and Cuppe, but of God.
Of the other Ceremonies, of anoinctyng, and thrise dipping, hath been spoken before. That the Apostles vsed no suche blessyng of the water of Baptisme, as you doe, it is manifeste, when thei Baptised in eueryevery Riuer, and Brooke that thei came to. In dedè thei did cōsecrate the water for that time, when they vsed it to serue for ye holy vse, but did putte no holines into it which should remain after that baptisme was ministred with it, as you doe. As for the stipulatiō of renouncyng the deuill. &c. is in dede ye doctrine of the Apostles. Hebr. v. (whiche we retain) although you saie in the ende, we do not. As for salte, spettle, & cōiuration, or exorcisme, thei ar altogeher superfluous, at this tyme. Of exorcisme, there was some vse in the auncient churche, but of salte, & spittle, which neuer are not mentioned in that place of Basile. As there were many possessed with Deuills, so there was some, that that had this power of the holie ghost, to caste out Deuils whiche were called exoreistes, as witnesseth S. Cypriane in his fowerth boke, and Epis. vij. ad Magnū. Quod hodie etiā geritur vt per exorcistas, voce humana, & potestate diuina, flagelletur et vratur, et torqueatur diabolus. Et cū exire, et hoēs dei dimittere saepe dicat, & in eo tamē quod dixerit fallat, & id quod per Pharaonē prius gestū est eodem, mendacio obstinationis, et fraudis exerceat: Cū tamen ad aquā salutarē, at que ad baptismi sanctificationā venitur, scire debemus & fidere, quia illic diabolus opprimitur, & homo dicatus diuina indulgentia liberatur, that is: Which thing also, is doen at this day, that by the exorcistes, through the voice of a man, and the power of God, the deuil is scourged, burned, and tormented. And although he saith oftētimes, that he goeth out, & letteth go the men of God, and yet in so saying deceiueth, & practiseth the same thing, that was dooen before by Pharao, with the same lye of obstinacie, & deceipt: yet whē we come to the wholsom water, and sanctification of Baptisme, we muste knowe, and beleue, that there, the Deuill is oppressed, and the man, whiche is there dedicated, is by the merciemercy of god deliuered. This one testimonie emong a number is sufficient, to declare bothe, that there was in the Churche, menne indued with the gifte of castyng out Deuilles, whiche visibly, and sensibly did possesse menne: and that Exorcisme at Baptisme, was vsed for none other ende, but to deliuer suche as were possessed, and could not be deliuered by the Exorcistes, before thei were baptised, not yt eueryevery persone which was Baptised hadde neede of exorcisme, but onelyonly suche as were vexed with vncleane spirites. And seyng that gifte of castyng out Deuilles, doeth no more continewe in the Churche, and thei that are to be Baptised, are not possessed with Deuilles, it were not onelyonly vngodlines, but also méere madnesse, for such to take vpō them that power, whiche hauehave it not, or if thei had it, to exercise it, where there is no neede of it.
The Papiste.
Fifte in the Primitiue churche thei builded churches, erected therin alters, and offfered sacrifice theron, which was a suer token and argument of the faieth of Christ, receiued like as Chrysostome writeth of Englande, howe that they had receiued the faieth of Christe, because they had builded churches, and erected Aultars in the same. S. Beade witnesseth, that sainct Augustine at the bringyng in of Christes faieth into Englande, did set vppe Aultars, wherupon the people did make their oblations, and the preste did celebrate Masse, which these our reformatours doe denie and destroie, as greate blaspemie vntounto God.