Answer to John De Albines, Answer to discourse · Chapter 37 · Discourse
The XXXVII. Chapter.
ALL our ancient doctours,aThis is but an arrogant falſe brag, as we are able to proue, come to particulars when you will. as well of the Greeke, as of the Latine church ſince the Apoſtles time, and the Chriſtians of all the foure quarters of the world, which were in thoſe daies,bChriſtians hauehave alwaies vowed and promiſed lawful thinges onelyonly to God: & they hauehave had a care to make thoſe vowes and promiſes diſcreetly, & of ſuch things as they ſaw, he had made poſſible vntounto thē; which things are neglected in the vowes, that I feare you moſt mean. hauehave made their promiſes and vowes vntounto God, euen as we doe now, and at their baptiſme they did vſe euen thoſe verie ceremonies that we doe, with the ſelfeſame exorciſmes, adiurations and annoyntings, that we doe vſe in our Catholique church, which you call Papiſticall: and to proue this true, we will bring the ſaied ancient doctours as witneſſes, if it pleaſe you to reade thecNeuer man had worſe hap in quoting ſo few places, as is euident in the anſwer to this Chapter. places that we will quote. Tertullian (who liued verie neere the Apoſtles time) doeth make mention in his booke that he intituled, De reſurrectione carnis, of the annointing vſed at the Baptiſme, and of the renouncing the Deuill & all his pompe. In his booke de coronâ militis, he doeth ſpeake of the third dipping vnderunder the water, in the name of the father, the ſonne, and the holy ghoſt. S. Cyprian the Martyr, who was aboue. 1300. yeares agone, doeth write in the ſecond volume of his Epiſtles, Epiſt. 12. how they did vſe in his time to giuegive the holy Chriſme vntounto the children that were baptiſed. Origen in his twelfth Homilie, and in diuerſe other places of his workes, doeth make mention of the renouncing of the Deuill at ones baptiſme, & of the making of the ſigne of the croſſe vponupon childrens faces when they were chriſtened. S. Iohn Chryſoſtome in his 12. Homilie vponupon the firſt Epiſtle to the Corinthians cap. 4. And in his firſt Homilie vponupon the firſt Chapter to the Epheſians, he doeth make mention of the ſaied renunciation made from the Deuill and all his workes. Reade I praie, if it be your pleaſure, S. Aug. in Pſal. 31. Aug. li 15. contra Iulia. Pelag. li. 1. ca. 2. Item de nuptiis & cōcupiſcentia. lib. 1. cap. 20. in Ioannem, tract. 33. in Canonicam Ioannis, tract. 3. & tractat. 6. Et de eccle. dogmat. cap. 31. De Simbolo, lib. 1. cap. 7. & lib. 2. cap. 11. Et libro de his qui initiantur ſacris. Cap. 1. Baſilius de Spiritu Sancto, cap. 15. & 27. Arnobius in Pſalm. 75. All theſe doctours, which were aboue a thouſand yeares agone, if you reade in them the places that heere I hauehave quoted, you ſhall finde, that they did vſe at the Baptiſme of their children thoſe verie ceremonies that wee doe now vſe, and that you doe ſo miſlike. And as for confeſſion, before the receiuing of the Sacrament, our ſauiour Chriſt doeth teach vsus, that the Eccleſiaſticall miniſters hauehave authoritie to binde and forgiue ſinnes. Saint Cyprian in his fifth Sermon de lapſis. Origen vponupon the thirtie and ſeuenth Pſalm, and in Leuit. Hom. 2. Saint Auguſtine libro 2. de viſitatione infirmorum Cap. 4. Saint Cyril. libro 12. in Iohannem, Cap. 56. Saint Hierom in Eccleſiaſt. Cap. 10. All theſe doctours, according to the Scriptures, in theſe places doe confirme auriculer confeſſion. And as for praying vntounto the Saintes in Paradiſe to helpe vsus vvith their praiers, read Origen, in his third Homilie vpō the Cāticles, and in his 2. book vpō Iob, & his eight book in Eccl. Reade Chryſoſtom, in his eight Homilie vponupon the Epiſtle to the Epheſians, the fourth Chapter, and S. Auguſtine, in his twentie booke againſt Fauſtus, the one and twenty Chapter, and Saint Hierom againſt Vigilantius. All theſe make mention of the praying vntounto the Saintes. And for praying for the dead, reade Tertullian in his booke De Monogonia, and in his booke De corona militis, and Saint Cyprian ad plebem Furnenſem, and in the firſt booke of his Epiſtles: and Origen in Hieremiam. Homil. 12. Item in Epiſt. ad Rom. libro 8. cap. 11. Reade Chryſoſtome, in his thirde Homilie vponupon the Epiſtle of Saint Paul to the Philippians, and S. Auguſtine lib. 2. de gen. againſt the Manichees, cap. 20. & in the Encheridion ad Laurent. cap. 110. Item libro de cura pro mortuis agenda. All theſe doctours, whoſe workes hauehave continued theſe 1200. yeares, doe teach vsus all theſe thinges that now we doe obſerue, the which they left in writtng by the ordinance of God, to confute ſuch heretiques as you are.