A Learned Treatise of Traditions, Treatise · Chapter 14
CAP. XIIII. A proofe of the ſame, by the Traditions which our adverſaries doe ſuppoſe to be the most ancient and best grounded in antiquity.
TO the end it may not be ſayd, that for our advantage, wee picke out their moſt moderne Traditions, and leaſt countenanced with antiquity. I will inciſt upon three, wherein our adverſaries take themſelves to ſtand upon ſureſt ground, and labour to overwhelme vsus with texts and places out of the Fathers; the firſt is prayer for the Dead, ſecondly Lent, thirdly ſingle life of the Clergy.
For the firſt, I ſay that prayers1. Prayer for the dead. for the Dead, which the Romiſh Church doth exerciſe, and are made for the comfort of Soules in Purgatory, are ſo moderne as not to have any mention or trace of them in all antiquity. For wee have already expreſſed, and will further demonſtrate in its proper place, that the ancient Chriſtians prayed for the dead, ſleeping in a peaceable repoſe, and kept in hidden receptacles, expecting the Reſurrection; praying likewiſe that the dead ſhould riſe againe to ſalvation, or that they ſhould be raiſed at a better houre then others, or that the fire at the laſt day of judgment ſhould burne them more ſuperficially and ſparingly, but for a prayer to eaſe and mitigate a burning ſoule in the fire of Purgatory, there is not any found in all antiquity: yea, in all the prayers of the Church of Rome, which are found in the Maſſe for the dead, there is not ſo much as any whiſpering of Purgatory; and yet the Canon of the Maſſe prayeth for the ſoules that ſleepe in peaceable quietneſſe: and at this day the Greek and Orientall Churches pray for the dead, and deny Purgatory. The ſecond booke of the Maccabees at the 12. c. wiſheth us to pray for the dead, having reſpect to the reſurrection, ſaying likewiſe that to pray otherwiſe then thus, were trifling and dotage; briefly, I ſay that the prayers which the ancient Chriſtians did make for the dead, are utterly aboliſhed in the Church of Rome; and that hee who ſhould pray at this time for the dead, after the manner of the ancient Church, ſhall be branded for an Heretike, and not eſcape the Inquiſition, for ſuch kind of prayers would not be gainefull to the Romiſh Clergy; and the power of the Pope (notGelaſius Cōmonitorio ad Fauſtum Super terrā (inquit) nam in hac legatione defunctum nunguam dixit abſolv…. long ſince invented) to give Indulgences to the dead, (and condemned by Pope Gelaſius,) ſhould vaniſh by ſuch prayers, and the trafficke therein ſhould be diſſolved.
Secondly, Lent, (that is to ſay,2. Lent. the cuſtome of not eating fleſh, nor egges for ſixe and forty dayes before Eaſte… ) is not a tradition received into the Church from the beginning; indeed the word Quadrag…ſsima is found often times in the Fathers of the fourth and fift ages: but in the pure and unſuſpected writings of the Fathers of the three firſt ages, I never met with it, and we muſt note that this word (to take it originally) did ſignifie a faſt of forty houres before Eaſter, which obſervation the ancient Chriſtians grounded upon that which Ieſus Chriſt ſpake in the 9. of Saint Matthew, They ſhall faſt when the Spouſe ſhall bee taken from them. Now the ſpouſe, to weet, Ieſus Chriſt was taken from his Diſciples for forty houres: for there are juſt ſo many houres from the time that hee was nailed to the Croſſe unto his reſurrection. Nevertheleſſe the cuſtomes did forthwith vary, ſome faſting two daies, ſome three, ſome five, but though the cuſtome did alter, yet the ancient name did ſtill remaine, and according as the obſervation hereof did increaſe, ſo in concluſion, this Faſt of forty houres is become by little and little a Faſt of forty dayes, whereof every one among the people did faſt his day, according as he ſaw good, except the Sabbath dayes: for to faſt on Gods day was judged a crime, the Spouſe beeing rendred to the Church on that day by his reſurrection. There was none but thePay prouué tout ce la par multitude de paſſages au 7 liure contre le Cardinal du Perron en la 5-contraverſe cap. 6. 7. et 8. Church of Rome that faſted on Saturdayes, whereof alſo it was condemned by the ſixth generall Councell at the 55. Canon: yea at Milan which is neere Rome, they faſted not on Saturdayes, as Saint Auguſtine teſtifieth in his 118. Epiſtle.
Thirdly, ſingle life of Prieſts and3. Single life of Prieſts. Biſhops cannot be an Apoſtolicall Tradition, becauſe it was not practiſed at the time of the Apoſtles, nor many ages after them. But having ſpoken of this elſewhere at large, I will content my ſelfe for the preſent, with the teſtimony of the two moſt famous Cardinals of this age, Barronius, and Perron. Baronius in the 58. yeere of his AnnalesBar. Ann. 58 §. 14. acknowledgeth, that married men were received to the function of Biſhop at the Apoſtles time, whereof hee alledgeth divers cauſes, and namely amongſt the reſt, the ſcarcity of unmarried men, eſpecially in Crete. And Perron affirmeth,Du Perron cōtre le Roy de la grand' Bretagne pag. 312. A cauſe. reſpondrens nous, de la rareté des perſonnes marices lors de la naiſſance de l'Egliſe, &c. Mais depuis comme l'Emperour Conſtantin, &c. that this permiſſion laſted untill the time of Conſtantine, that is to ſay, during the three firſt ages. But if he would have confeſſed the whole truth, he had acknowledged that Greeke Churches, never was any time when Prieſts were not married, yea they ſo continue to this very day. And the 13. Canon of the ſixt generall Councel, called at the Imperial Palace of Conſtantinople, doth formally condemne the Church of Rome upon this ſubject. Eſtius Doctor and Profeſſor at Doway, in his Commentary upon this paſſage of the Apoſtle 1 Tim. 3. Let the Biſhop Fatendum eſt Aveſtolum permittere vt in Epiſcopum eligatur qui habeat; verum id pro tēpore, propter paucitatem eorla qui et coelibes eſſent, & ad Epiſcopatum idonei.be husband of one wife, ſpeaketh thus: We muſt confeſſe that the Apoſtle ſuffereth us to chuſe a Biſhop that is married to one wife: but he teacheth this according to the time, becauſe of the fewneſſe of unmaried men, and of ſuch as were fit for the function of a Biſhop. Therefore this Tradition claimeth not the Apoſtles to bee the Authours of it, and conſequently is not Apoſtolicall; nor hath it beene received at all times, and in all places.
I have inſiſted hereupon, not that wee ſhould have need of the authority of the ancients, to fight againſt Romiſh Traditions, (for refutation whereof, the word of God is ſufficient, and is only that which ought to judge us:) but to ſhew that our Adverſaries, ſuppoſing to eſtabliſh their Traditions, doe plainely deſtroy them, and doe giuegive ſuch notes, whereby they draw their owne inditement and conviction.
Nevertheleſſe it is not without craft, that they will have Traditions to bee examined by this touchſtone: to wit, whether they have beene univerſally received at all times. For they know, that of thoſe who would examine their Traditions by this way, ſcarce one amongſt a thouſand can attaine to the head of them, and that the people can inform themſelves nothing at all therein: for this examination cannot bee made, but by the reading of all the Greeke and Latine Fathers, and of all the Eccleſiaſticall hiſtories ſince the continuation of ſixteene hundred yeeres. All the bookes to this purpoſe would fill a ſpacious roome, and are no more then ſealed letters to the people; yea amongſt the Clergie, not one of a hundred will bee found that hath but ordinary knowledge therein. By this meanes our Adverſaries contrive the matter, that when their Traditions come to be examined, a way muſt bee undertaken that is endleſſe, wherein the people walke blindefold, and are conſtrained to repaire to the teſtimony of ſuch men as preach theſe Traditions, and live by them: truly if by theſe directions men expect to arrive at the knowledge of ſalvation, I know not who can be ſaved.
The which moſt cleerely appeareth in this, that the holy Scripture being the ſhort and ſure means to examiue Traditions, they ſequeſter it farre from the peoples eyes, and divert them from reading therof, appointing them to books, wherein they are neither comprehenſive, nor capable. It appeareth likewiſe in the examination of Traditions by the hiſtory of every age, wherein ordinarily they commence with the laſt age, and ſo walke retrograde in the calculation of their times, to the end they may arrive as late as poſſibly they can at the Apoſtles time and their writings.