Popish Glorying in Antiquity Turned to their Shame, Chapter 2
CHAP. II. What the Romanists say of all the Fathers, and Ancients in generall, both in exposition of Scripture, and Dogmaticall pointes of Fayth.
HOwsoever Thrasonicklie their great Golia… Bellarmine doth brag of the consent of Antiquitie with them in everie point of controversie,Bell. lib. 3. de pont. cap. 19. §. hoc i…em. saying to vsus, Vos nihil aliud fere afferre soletis, quam vestram ipsorum interpretationem: Nos vero patrum consensum:Bell. lib. 1. de C…risto. cap. 10 Initio. that is, You vse to bring no other thing almost, but your owne interpretation: but wee bring the consent of the Fathers. And howsoever hee slanderouslie vpbraideth vsus,Bellar. oratione ante Tom. 4. §. Corona. saying, Adversarij parum aut nihil tribuunt patribus, imo nihili faciunt mille Cyprianos, & mille Augustinos:Bell. lib. 4. de Euch. cap 26. I…tio. that is, Our Adversaries giuegive little or no credit to the Fathers; yea, they count nothing of a thousand Cyprians, and a thousand Augustines; forgetting himselfe when else-where for communion of the Cup to all, hee sayeth, Multa loca Adversarij ex patribus citant: that is, Our Adversaries cite manie places of the Fathers for them▪ yet notwithstanding what hee especiallie sayeth of them all in generall, and thereafter how hee and others dealeth with them in particular, both severallie one by one, & conjunctlie conveaned in Counsell, wee shall heereafter (God willing) declare.
First then, speaking of their interpretation of Scripture,Bell. lib. 3. de verbo. cap. 10. §. respondeo aliud. he sayeth as much as anie Protestant, affirming, that they expone Scripture, More Doctorum solum, non Iudicum; ideo que sententiam eorum non necessariò sequendam, sed quatenus ratio suadeo: that is, As Doctors only, and not as Iudges, therefore the Sentence is not necessarilie to be followed, but so farre as reason perswadeth.
Next, speaking of their other writtes of dogmaticall pointes of Faith, hee sayeth, Scripta Patrum non sunt regulae, nec habent authoritatem obligandi: that is, The Writs of the Fathers are not Rules, neyther hauehave they authoritie to astrict vsus to them The reason whereof their owne Roffensis doeth render, saying,Roff. in resut … 7. …. Nec diffitemur errasse Patres, Homines enim erant sicut & nos: that is, Nei…her deny wee but the Fathers hauehave erred, for they were Men, even as wee are. Imo constat (sayeth Bellarmine) quosdam ex praecipuis eorum in quibusdam non leviter lapsos, Bell. lib. 3. de terbo cap. 10. §. at. is. Bell. lib. 4. de Christo cap. 8. § respond…o. Bell lib. 1. de Sacrā. cap▪ 26. §. tertio.ut Hilarium vix dolores corporis in CHRISTO agnovisse, & Cyprianus improbabat Sacramenta tradita ab Hereticis aut Schismaticis: that is, Yea, it is sure, that some of the chiefe of them erred, and that not lightlie in some things, as Hilarie did, who searce did acknowledge that CHRIST suffered any paine in His Bodie; and Cyprian denyed, that they were Sacramentes, which were ministred by Heretickes, or Schismatickes.
…Item▪ Iraeneus contendit (sayeth hee) CHRISTUM fere ad annum 50 pervenisse antequam passus est: that is, Ire…us also did holde, that CHRIST almost came to bee fiftie yeares of age before Hee suffered: which is flat contrarie to Scripture, and S. Iohns relation, who showeth, that hee was baptized at 30, and at the third Passeover thereafter that hee suffered Death, &c.
I omit their confession how manie were millenaries; as also Augustines condemning of Children vnbaptized to hels fire,See Camus l. 3. c. 3 of the Fathers errours. with Ieromes errour of second marriages, &c.
Therefore,Aquin, part ▪ 1. quast, … art 8. §. odd secundū. (sayeth Aquinas) Authoritatibus canonicae Scripture utitur sacra doctrina propriè ex necessitate arguendo, authoritatibus autem aliorum doctorum Ecclesiae, arguendo pro…abiliter. Innititur en…m fides nostra revelationi Apostolis & Prophetis factae, qui cano…cos libros scripserunt, non autem revela…ioni siqua fuit ali…s doctoribus facta; vnde dicit Augustinus in Epistola ad Hieronymum, Solis enim Scripturarum Libris qui canonici appellantur, didici hunc honorem deferre, ut nullum authorem eorum in scribendo errasse aliquid, firmissime credam: Alios autem it a lego, ut quantalibet sanctitate doctrina que praepolleant, non ideo verum putem quia ipsi ita senserunt, vel scripserint: that is, Holie doctrine vseth the authoriti… of canonicke Scripture, properlie and necessarilie concluding out of them, bu… gueth onlie probablie out of the authorities of other Doctors of the Church for our fayth is grounded on that which was revealed to the Prophets and Apostles, who wryte the canonicall Bookes, but not to that which was revealed to anie other Doctors, (if any such th…ng was) wherefore sayeth Augustine in his Epist…e to …rome, For I hauehave learned (sayeth hee) to giuegive this honour onlie to the Bookes of Scripture, which are called Canonicke, that I most firmlie belieue that no Author of any of them in their writing erred in a jet▪ but as for others, I so reade them, that altho they were never so excellent, eyther in godlinesse or learning, yet I doe not belieue that it is true, because they thought or wrote so.
Wherefore in Patribus legendis (sayeth their Salmeron) servanda videtur sententia Quintiliani,Sal…er. I…s. in Epist. ad Rom. disp. 6. s… sine…. …. l. 10. Cap. 1. qui sic scribit; Neque statim (inquit) id legenti persuasum sit, omnia quae magni Authores dixerunt, uti que esse perfecta, nam labuntur interdum & oneri cedunt, & indulgent ingeniorum suorum voluptati, summi sunt, homines tamen, acciditque lectoribus ut quicquid apud ipsos reperiunt, dicendilegem putant, ut deteriora imitentur: that is, In reading of the Fathers, the judgement of Quintilian would bee kept, who wryteth fo… neyther instantlie (sayeth hee) let the Reader bee assured, that all thinges which great Authors hauehave sayde, are everie way perfect, for they erre sometyme, and succumbe, and giuegive loose reines to the pleasure of their own wits. It is true, they are great Authors, but yet they are men; and it befalleth their Readers, that whatsoever they finde in them, they thinke it a Law to their speaches, that so they may follow the worse thinges.
And for a particular practise of this fore-saide direction,Lyra in Mat. 1. Lyra setteth downe his owne example, saying, Nec debet aliquis moveri, si in hoc ob opinione Hieronymi disc…ssero: nam dicta sanctorum non sunt tantae authoritatis, quin liceat contrarium tenere, in iis quae per Scripturas non determinantur, ut ait Augustinus ad Vincentium, de sanctorum doctorum scriptis; hoc genus scribendi à canonicis Scripturis distinguendum est, nam testimonia ex eis non depromuntur, quasi non liceat aliter sentire: that is, Neyther should any man bee moved, if I depart in this from the opinion of Ierome, for the sayings of the holy Fathers are not of so great authoritie, but it is lawfull to hold the cont…arie to them, in those things which are not determined by the Scriptures, as Augustine sayeth to Vincentius of the writs of the holie Doctors. This sort of writing is to bee distinguished from canonicke Scriptures; for Testimonies are not taken out of them, as if it were not lawfull to any other-wyse to thinke.
Now then, if any Protestant say farder, than the foresayde Popish Doctors avouch concerning the Fathers, eyther in exposition of Scripture, or other points of Faith, let the most malicious Adversarie instance, and the vnpartiall Reader judge and discerne.