Confutation of Unwritten Verities, Chapter 9
¶Scriptures alledged by the Papystes for vnwrytten verites / wyth answers to the same.
¶The .ix. Chapter.
WHere .ii. or .iii. be gathered in my name there am I in the myddest of them.Math. 18. But Christe can not erre:Argumente. for he is the trueth it selfe: ergo thei cannot erre in their Sinodes / conuocations / and generall counsels / beeyng gathered together in hys name.
CHrist said / when .ii. or .iii.Answere be gathered in my name &c. and to be gathered in hys name / is in our assembles to seke his onelyonly glorye and not ours / to doe all thynges by his prescript word.Math. 7. For not eueri one that sayeth vntounto me / Lorde Lord / shall enter &c. As witches / charmers / necromansers / and coniurars / vse theyr wycked artes / all in the name of God and Christ:Acres. 19. and yet is not Christ with them. For the .vii. sōnes of Sceua / the chief Priest of the Iewes / wēt about to cast out euyll spirited in the name of Iesus / whom Paule preached: but yet Chryste was not with them / but the wycked spirite / whyche wounded them / and draue them awaye naked. Moreouer all forgers of wyles / counterfetters of false instrumentes / and iudges geuyng false sentences / in the ecclesiasticall lawe / they beginne wyth this glorious titel: in the name of god / Amen. Therfore sprang this old prouerbe / in the name of God begynneth al mischief: and yet Christ is with nōe of these / though they pretende to dooe al these thinges in hys name. Christe saith also / many shal prophesie in my name / and cast out deuils & worke miracles in my name / and then wil I cō fesse to thē / that I neuer knewe you… Reade Euscbius and Athanasius / and you shall there see / what pride / contencion / hatred / malice / enuy / and desrer to beare rule / reigned in the counsels of the cleargi at those daies / not much past .iiii. C.Math. 7. yeres after Chryst. What thynke you they woulde saye / if they saw our counsels / where the Romish Antichrist triumpheth? no doubt / that though an Angell from heauen preach any other &c.A replicacion. Here you wyll replye agayne: Christ saith where .ii. or .iii. ar gathered &c. Now in eueryevery counsell are not onelye .ii. or .iii. learned and godly men / but many. Ergo they cannot erre.Answere I graunt that in eueryevery general counsel be many good men / which doe not erre / nor are deceiued: and yet it foloweth not that the whole councell cannot erre.
For in councels the more parte is taken for the whole / & shynges be there determined and ordered / not by reason / learnyng / and authoritie of the word of god: but by sioutnes / wisfulnes and consent of the more part. In those counsels / where be mo euill and wicked men / then good & godli / it commeth often tymes to passe / that iniquite hauing the vpper hāde / the greater part ouercōmeth the better: & yet the good mē nothererre / nor cōset to these errours concluded by the wicked and the more part / but resist and speake agaīst thē to the vtmost of their power not without great daūger of their liues / yea & sōetimes it costeth thē their liues in dede / as it is now daily sene.
THe Scribes & the Pharisees sit vpō Moses seate / Math. 23. The. 2. argumētwhat soeuer thei bid you do / that do / but after their workes doe not: for thei say and doe not. Here (they saye) it appeareth playnly / that Chryste commaundeth vsus to obeye the heades of the church / how euill soeuer theyr lyues be.
FIrst let them loke well what maner menne they make them selues / that is / Scribes and Pharises the greatest enmys of god / persecutors and murtherers of hys Prophetes / of the Apostles / and of Christ himselfe / and so Antichristes.The first answere. Secondly Moses seate is not hys offyce or authorite / but his doctryne: & therfore saith S. Augustine / that seat / which is his doctrine / suffereth them not to erre:The second answere. and in another place / they sitting in Moses scate teache the law of god / therfore god teacheth by thē. But if they wyl teache their own doctryne / beleue them not: for suche seeke their own and not Iesus Chrystes: & Chryst hiddeth vsus beware of the leuē of the Pharises / and then the disciples knew that the spake not of the leuen of bread but of their doctrynes / althoughe they sat in Moses seate / if they wyll nedes contende / the dignite or office of Moses / to be Moses seate / and yet erred shamfully in their doctryne.
BEholde / I am wyth you al the dayes vntounto the worldes ende:the forth argumēt Math. 28 thys promyse was not made to the Apostles only (for they dyed shortly after Chryste) but to the churche. Ergo the churche cannot erre.
I Beseche thē to beginne a litell afore / and they shall playnely heare Chryst hymself vnlose this knotte.Answere The words before ar these in Marke: goe and preache my gospell to euerye creature / and in Mathewe: goe and teache all people / baptysinge them in the name of the father / of the sōne &c. teachynge them to obserue all thyngs / what soeuer I hauehave cōmaunded you: and lo / I wyll be wyth you vntounto the worldes ende. Here you may see this promyse of Chryst / I wilbe wyth you &c. is not absolute or vniuersall / but geuen vnderunder a condiciō (that is) if you preache my gospel truly / if you baptise rightly / if you teach the baptised to do all thynges / that I hauehave commaunded you: lo / then I wyll be wyth you vntounto the worldes ende. But if you teache any other gospel / or baptise otherwise / or bydde them doe any other thynge / aboue that whiche I hauehave cōmaunded you: you hauehave no promyse of god / but the curse / that Paule threatneth: thoughe we or an Angell from heauen preache &c.
I HaueHave yet many mooe thynges to say vntounto you / but you cānot beare them away nowe:The. 5. argumēt Iohn. 16. howbeit whē he is come / which is the sprite of trueth / he wil leade you into all trueth, Here you may see / (saye the enmies of gods trueth) that Chryste taughte not all thyngs himself / but left many things to be taught to the disciples / by the holy gost after his death.
CHriste saied not / I hauehave many thyngs to say / which I wil not tel you now / but which you can not beare now.Answere That is / you can not perceiue or vnderstande them nowe: and thus Christ himselfe expoundeth these words / the cōforter / which is the holi gost / whō my father wil sēd in my name:Iohn. 14. he shal teache you al thinges / & put you in rememberaunce of all things / that I hauehave sayd vntounto you / & no newe or other thynges. For chryst sayeth playnly that he hymselfe had taughte them all before / sayinge:Iohn. 15. all thyngs / that I hauehave hearde of my father / hauehave I opened vntounto you.
Moreouer our Sauiour in plaine wordes sheweth what thynges those were / that his disciples coulde not vnderstande / although he manye tymes tolde them the same before. Beholde / sayeth he / we gooe vp to Ierusalem / Luke. 18.and all shalbe fulfilled / that are wryt te… by the Prophetes of the sonne of mā. For he shalbe delyuered to the gē tyls and shalbe mocked / and despitefully entreated / and spitted on / & whē they hauehave scorged him / they wyl put hym to death / and the thirde daye he wil rise againe: and they vnderstode none of these thynges. For these sayinges wee hid from them so / that thei perceaued none of the thynges / that were spoken: although he spake to thē in most playne teruis. And the cause / why they perceaued not his so playne speache / was thys. They were yet carnal / and vnderstode the prophesies of Chrysts kyngdome carnally / thinkīg that Chryst shoulde reigne at Ierusalem like a mightie conqueroure / and subdewe all the Gentyles vnderunder the yoke of bondage to the Iewes / so that the Iewes shoulde be Lordes and rulers ouer all the world for euer.Math. 20 And therfore Iames and Iohn asked a peticiō of Iesꝰ by theyr mother / that they / her two sonnes / myght sit the one on his right hande / and the other on hys left hand / in his kingdome: and when he spake of his death / Peter toke him aside and rebuked him saying: Master fauour thy selfe / thys shall not happē vntounto the / to whom Chryst sayd / go after me Sathā.Math. 16 These be the thynges / that the disciples could not then beare or vnderstande / but thought that he had spokē some allegorie / ridle or dark speache vntounto thē: but after his resurrection / he opened their wittes that they mighte vnderstande the Scryptures / and sayd vntounto them:thus it is wryttē / and thus it behoued Chryst to suffer. And to the two / discipls goyng to Emaus / he expounded Moses / the Prophetes and all the scripturs / that were wrytten of hym. And after the ascensiō the holy gost appeared to thē in fierie tonges / and fylled them with all knowledge / & they began to speake with sondrye tonges / as the holy goste gaue them vtteraunce: and then they vnderstode the Scryptures perfectlye.
MAnye other tokens did Iesus / which are not written in thys boke.The. 6. argumēt Iohn. 20. Agayne / there are many other thyngs / that Iesus did / whych / if thei were written / I suppose / the worlde should not be able to conteyne the bokes / that should be wrytten.
SAinct Iohn speaketh not here of faith and charite but of miracles / the knowledge wherof is not necessary for our saluacion / as his wordes folowing doe declare:Answere these ar writtē / that you mighte beleue / that Iesus is Chryst / the sonne of God / and in beleuing may hauehave lyfe in his name. And what is more required or desiered of a Christian / then to enioye euerlasting lyfe? that ought to be our whole study and endeuour / to that ende ought we to applye all our myndes / wordes and workes and prayers.
STande fast brethren / and kepe the ordinaunces / that ye hauehave2. Thess. 2 argumēt learned either by our preachīg or by our Epistle. Of these words thei gather / that Paule taughte diuerse things to the Thessalonians by word of mouth / without writing: which neuerthelesse he commaunded them to obserue and doe.
I Graunte that Paule taughte many thīgs by word of mouth which he wrought not in his Epistles to the Thessaloniās.Answer. But how that they proue / that the same thinges be neyther writtē by him in ani other of his Epistles / nor in any other place of the hole Bible? For what argumēt is this? it is not written in this place or to those persons / ergo it is not written in the scripture at al. For the shortnes of one Epistle / or of one sermon / cānot sufficiētly cōteine al thinges necessary for our saluaciō: & therfore be ther so many bokes of the scripture that what so is omitted and not spok… of in one place / or els darkly spokē of / mighte bee writtē plainly in another place. And for this cause S. Paul writeth to the Colossiās▪ sayīg: whē thys leter is redde wyth you / cause it also to bee redde to the Laodicians. And reade you also the Epistle written frō Laodicia. And Sainct Paul wryteth of himselfe / suche as we are in our absence by leters / such are we in dede being presēt.2. Cor. 10 Moreouer Paul speaketh not here of doctrynes of fayth and charite / whiche euer continew wythout chaunging / adding or minishyng / but of certayne tradicions / obseruacyous / ceremonyes and outwarde rites and bodelye exercyces / whiche (as he sayeth) is litell worth to god warde / but to be vsed for comlines / decent order and vniformite in the churche / & to auoyde schisme: whych ceremonies eueryevery good man is bounde to kepe / lest he trouble the common order / and so breake the order of charite in offendīg his weake brethren / so long as they be approued / receyued / and vsed by the heades and cōmon consente. But they and eueryevery one of such ceremonyes / as be neyther sacramentes / nor commaū dementes of fayth and charite / may be altered and chaunged / and other set in their places / or els vtterly takē away by the authorite of Prynces / and other their rulers and subiectes in the church. Yea also the tradycyōs / made by the Apostles in ful counsel at Ierusalem / may be / and already are / takē awaye:Actes. 1… as to abstayne from thynges offered vntounto Images / from blood and strangled / ar no where kept. And this of Paule / that a man should neyther praye nor preache capped / or with his head couered / is also cleane abolyshed.