Three Pillars and Arch-patriarchs of the Popish Synagogues, Treatise 4 · Section 1
A refutation of maister Rastels confutation.
SECTIO PRIMA. In which he speaketh of the councel of Nice & of vnwritten verities.Rastell.
TO passe ouer the two first leafes of his booke and halfe the third,Fulk. in which is much vaine babling but no point of confutatiō, in the second face of the third leafe, he beginneth to picke his iust quarel at the sentence set before the bishoppes printed sermon, which is this. Let old customes preuaile. It greueth M. Rastel & his fellowes, which perswade the ignorant people that our relygion is all nouelty, that M Iewell should make any such claime vntounto antiquitie. And first therfore he wil know whether ye scriptures do not cōteine al things necessary to saluatiō? Yes verely, and Gods curse light on him, that teacheth the contrarie. Then he will knowe, where we finde this saying in scriptures, or if it be not in the scripture of god, why we wil vse a sentēce of ye coūcel of Nice, which was but a cōgregatiō of mens Verily if we found not ye matter of this sentence in Gods worde, we durst not auouch it to be true that was vttered by men, being applied to any point of doctrine. But we finde the same doctrine in the sixt of Ieremy, where the Lord saith, Stand in the wayes, and beholde, and aske for the olde way, which is the good way, and walke therein, and you shall finde rest for your soules. Nowe this saying of the councell of Nice, let olde customes preuaile, being the same in effect and meaning, though somewhat differing in sounde of wordes, we embrace it as the worde of God, and the holy scripture, which we do not restraine vntounto the letters and sillables, but vntounto the plaine and manifest sence and vnderstanding of them. The seconde quarrell he picketh to the placing of this sentence before the bishoppes sermon, because it is vttered by the Councell of Nice in a particuler case concerning ye iurisdiction of the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, and therefore cannot serue for a generall sentence. For all olde customes (saith he) must not be preferred before new customes, example of washing of feete, & abstaining from eating of bloud, which were olde customes. But if the councell meant, that olde customes should preuaile against newe writinges, then all books of Luther & such like are striken through which one foine. Wherefore hee concludeth that the councell meant, that olde customes shoulde preuaile, against the pretensed alledging of the verye scripture it selfe, and newe doctrine of men. And so this sentence doth at once ouerthrow all maister Iewels religion. But hauing compared this sentence to the text of scripture, by which the true meaning therof may appeare, I will not stand about this trifling cauils. Cōcerning our iudgmēt of antiquitie this it is. We wil not admit whatsoeuer is old, but only ye religiō which is eldest of al, which hath god for ye autor, ye Patriarches, Prophetes, and Apostles for the witnesses, and all learning, doctrine, and religion, which is vnderunder the age of these yeares, we reiect as newe, false, and diuelish. As for customes, ceremonies, and manners, which are subiect to mutation, we receiue them, or refuse them, as they be approuable or disprouable by the saide old auncient and Catholike doctrine. And bicause M. Rastel hath not only touched the sixt Canon of the Councell of Nice, where this sentence is written, but also charged M. Iewell with ouerthrowe of his religion thereby, I must let the reader vnderstand, that he suppresseth one point thereof, that vtterly ouerthroweth ye piller of all Popish religion, & that is, the Popes supremacie. For yt Canon maketh the Bishop of Alexandria, equall in iurisdiction to the Bishop of Rome. For the reason of the iurisdiction confirmed vntounto the Bishops of Alexandria is this. Quia & vrbia Romę Episcop… parilis mos est. Bicause the Bishop of the citie of Rome hath the like or equall custome of iurisdiction. But M. Rastell will proue by the storie of Arrius, that the Councell meant by that sentence, that it is onelyonly tradition, custome, and manners, which killeth the hearts of heretiques, and defendeth the Catholike Church: and not the authoritie of the Scriptures. Bicause Arrius was such a proude heretique, that he despised all the interpretations of the auncient Fathers that were before his time, as Alexander Bishop of Alexandria writeth of him. Yea, he is not ashamed to say, that although the Fathers of that Councell had scriptures against Arrius, yet their chiefe stay was not in yt scriptures, but in the receiued tradition. But this is a most impudent lye, for although the consent of Catholike writers of all ages, with the word of God, is not to be contemned, yet the only authoritie in determining of controuersies of faith, in all Councels, is and ought to be by the authoritie of the holy scriptures. The Apostles thē selues in the Councel of Hierusalem, decided the controuersie of circumcision by the scriptures. Act. 15. A worthy paterne for al godly Councels to folow. Constantine also in the Councel of Nice, charged the Bishops there assembled by his commandement, to determine the matter by the authoritie of the holy scriptures. Euangelici enim & Apostolici libri, necnon antiquorum Prophetarum oracula planè instruunt nos (inqui:) sensu numinis. Proinde hostici posua discordia sumamus ex dictis diuini spiritus explicatione…. The bookes of the Gospels, and the Apostles, and also the Oracles of the auncient Prophetes do plainly instruct vsus (saith he) in the vnderstanding of God. Therefore laying away hatefull discord, let vsus take explications out of the sayings of the holy Ghoste. Therdor. lib. cap. 7. By this charge it is manifest, how truely M. Rastel faith, that the decree of foreign or equalitie of ye Sonne in substance with the Father, was made only by tradition, and not by the authoritie of the scriptures. For the Councel examining by scriptures the tradition and receiued opinion of the Fathers, and finding it agreeable to them, did confirme the same. And whereas the Arrians quarrelled that this worde foreign was not found in the scriptures, and therefore would refuse it, it helpeth nothing M. Rastels vnwritten verities, for the trueth of foreign is proued by an hundreth textes of scriptures, as the truth of the Trinitie is, although neither of both words are found in the scriptures. We quarell not as those heretiques did, and M. Rastel a Popish heritique doth, of letters, syllables, words, and sounds, but we stand vponupon the sense, meaning, vnderstanding, & doctrine which we affirme to be perfectly contained in scripture, what so euer is necessarie to saluation, as S. Paul saith: Al scripture inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to improue, to correct, and to instruct in righteousnes, that the man of God may be absolute, being made perfect to al good workes. 2. Tim. 3.
And therefore olde customes being referred vntounto the custome of the Church of God, in the time of the Patriarches, Prophetes, Apostles, and Doctours, that followed the same vnitie of Gods wordes, is the thing wee desire might preuaile in all our controuersies of religion: and so the sentence is wel inough placed, if Momus could let any thing alone.