Concerning the Right Use of the Fathers in Controversies, Book 1 · Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
Reaſon II. That thoſe Writings which we have of the Fathers of the Firſt Centuries, treat of Matters very far different from the preſent Controverſies in Religion.
BUt ſuppoſe that neither the want of Books in the Three Firſt Centuries, nor yet the abundance of them in the Three following, ſhould bring along with it theſe inconveniences; it will however be very hard to diſcover out of them, what the Opinion of their Authors hath been, touching thoſe Points of Chriſtian Religion now controverted. For the Matters whereof They treat, are of a very different nature; theſe Authors, according as the neceſſity of their times required, employing themſelves either in juſtifying the Chriſtian Religion, and vindicating it from the aſperſion of ſuch Crimes wherewith it was moſt falſly and injuriouſly charged; or elſe in laying open to the World the Abſurdity▪ and Impiety of Paganiſm; or in convincing the hard-hearted Jews; or in confuting the prodigious Fooleries of the Hereticks of thoſe times; or in exhortations to the Faithful to Patience and Martyrdom; or in expounding ſome certain Paſſages and Portions of the Holy Scripture: all which things have very little to do with the Controverſies of theſe times, of which they never ſpeak Syllable, unleſs they accidentally or by chance let a Word drop from them, toward this ſide, or that ſide, yet without the leaſt thought of us, or of our Controverſies; although both the one and the other Party ſometimes lights upon Paſſages, wherein they conceive they have diſcovered their own Opinions clearly delivered, though in vain for the moſt part, and without ground: juſt as he did, that hearing a Ring of Bells, thought they perfectly …ounded out unto him, what he in his own thoughts had fancied. Juſtin Martyr, and Tertullian, Theophilus, and Lactantius, Clemens, and Arnobius, ſhew the Heathen the vainneſs of their Religion, and of their gods; and that Jupiter and Juno were but Mortals, and that there is but one onelyonly God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Irenaeus bends his whole Forces againſt the prodigious Opinions of Baſilides, the Valentinians, and other G…oſticks, who were the Inventors of the moſt Chimaerical Divinity that ever came into the fancy of Man. Tertullian alſo whips them, as they well deſerve it; but he eſpecially takes Marcion, Herm…genes, Apelles, Praxcas▪ and others, to task; who maintained, That there were Two Gods, or Two Principles, and confounded the Perſons of the Father and the Son. Cyprian is wholly upon the Diſcipline and the Vertues of the Chriſtian Church. Arius, Macedonius, Eunomius, Photinus, Pelagius, and afterwards Neſtorius and Eutyches, made work for the Fathers of the Fourth and Fifth Centuries. The Blaſphemies of theſe Men againſt the Perſon or the Natures of our Saviour Chriſt, or againſt the Holy Ghoſt and its Grace, which have now of a long time lay buried, and forgotten, were the Matters debated in thoſe times, and the ſubject of the greateſt part of the Books then written, that have come to our Hands. What relation hath any thing of all this to the Buſineſs of Tranſubſtantiation, and the Adoration of the Euchariſt, or the Monarchy of the Pope, or the Neceſſity of Auricular Confeſſion, or the Worſhipping of Images, and the like Points, which are the Buſineſs of the preſent Controverſies, and which none of the Ancients hath handled expreſly, and of ſet purpoſe; and perhaps too never ſo much as thought of? It is very true indeed, that the ſilence of theſe Fathers in theſe Points, which ſome ſet ſo much by, is not wholly mute; and perhaps alſo it may paſs for a very clear Teſtimony: but certainly not on their ſide who maintain them affirmatively. But however, this is a moſt certain truth, That throughout the whole Body of the genuine Writings of theſe Fathers, you ſhall not meet with any thing expreſly urged, either for or againſt the greateſt part of theſe Opinions. I ſhall moſt willingly confeſs, That the belief of every Wiſe man makes up but One entire Body, the Parts whereof have a certain correſpondence and relation to each other; in ſuch ſort, as that a Man may be able, by thoſe things which he delivers expreſly, to give a gueſs what his Opinion is touching other things, which he declares himſelf not at all in: it being a thing utterly improbable that he maintains any one Poſition which ſhall manifeſtly claſh with his other Tenets, or that he rejects any thing that neceſſarily followeth upon them. But beſides that this manner of Diſputation preſuppoſeth, that the Belief of the Ancient Fathers hangs all cloſe together, no one Poſition contradicting another, but having all its Parts united, and depending one upon another; which notwithſtanding is not altogether unqueſtionable, as we ſhall ſhew elſewhere: Beſides all this, I ſay, it requireth alſo a ſharp piercing Wit, which readily and clearly apprehends the Connexions of each ſeveral Point; an excellent Memory, to retain faithfully whatever Poſitions the Ancients have maintained; and a ſolid Judgment, free from all pre-occupation, to compare them with the Tenets maintained at this day: And what Man ſoever is endued with all theſe Qualities, I ſhall account him the fitteſt Man to make profitable Uſe of the Writings of the Fathers, and the likelieſt of any to ſearch into the bottom of them. But the miſchief of it is, that Men ſo qualified, are very rare, and hard to be found. I ſhall add here,Gontery, Veron, and others. That if you will believe ſome certain Writers of the Church of Rome, this whole Method is vain and uſeleſs; as is alſo that which makes uſe of Argumentation, and Reaſon; means which are inſufficient, and unable (in the judgment of theſe Doctors) to bring us to any certainty, eſpecially in Matters of Religion, wherein, their Opinion is, we are to rely upon clear and expreſs Texts onelyonly. So that, according to this account▪ we will not, if we be wife, believe that the Fathers held any of the aforenamed Points, unleſs we can find them in expreſs terms delivered in their Writings; that is to ſay, in the very ſame terms that we read them in the Decrees and Canons of the Council of Trent. Seeing then that according to the Opinion of theſe Men, thoſe Teſtimonies onelyonly are to be received, which are expreſs, and likewiſe, that of theſe Points now controverted, there is ſearcely any thing found expreſly delivered by the Fathers: we may, in my Opinion, very Logically and reaſonably conclude, that it is, if not an impoſſible, yet at leaſt a very difficult thing (according to theſe Men) to come to the certain knowledge of the Opinion of the Ancients, touching the greateſt part of the Tenets of the Church of Rome, which are at this day rejected by the Proteſtants.