Answer Unto Assertion that Church of Rome is the True Church, Answer 7 – Assertion 8
Answeare.
YOu labour earnestly for succession, & therefore doe geue the attempt once againe to proue, that true faith and doctrine hath bene preserued and kept from the beginning, first by traditiō, & then by writing & tradition, in a continual succession of Bishoppes & Priestes. You alleage for proofe of this, that which is writtē by the Apostle to the Thessalonians: State & tenete traditiones quas didicistis siue per sermonē siue per epistolam nostram: Keepe suche things as you hauehave learned, eyther by our woorde, or by our writing: he exhorteth thē to obserue whatsoeuer the Apostles had mooued them vntounto, either in their sermons, or by their letters: but he promiseth not the Churche, that there shalbee suche fidelitie in all who are to succeede them, that a man may safely depende vppon their woordes and writinges: and this is the matter that you hauehave taken in hande to prooue. If you coulde hauehave made the Apostle speake thus: Tenete traditiones quas discetis siue per sermonem, siue per epistolam, non a nobis tantùm, verumetiam a succedentibus nobis Episcopis quibuscunque: It woulde hauehave made somethinge for your succession. If you had but entred into the least consideration that possibly might bee of the matter, setting affection aside, you shoulde soone hauehave discerned, that it was impossible to establishe a necessitie binding all times to come: by a verbe that noteth only the time past: Keepe those things (saith the Apostle) which you hauehave learned. And no lesse absurde, to inferre a succession, from wordes that mencion those onelyonly who are in present possession: keepe those thinges saith he, which you hauehave learned of vsus, not that which you shal learne of our successours. I do greatly meruel that euer you could be brought to build a matter of so great importaunce in your iudgement, vppon so feeble a foundation. For before this foundation shalbe able to beate any suche weight as you hauehave layde vppon it, these grauntes must freely bee geuen vntounto you. First that an exhortation to doe a thing, necessarily inferreth that thing both to hauehave bene done by them that were so exhorted, & by al that hauehave euer come after them: for vponupon Paule his exhortatiō to the Thessalonians, that they shoulde keepe suche thinges as he had taught them eyther by worde or writing: you gather a continuall practise to hauehave bene made of those things by them, and all that hauehave come after them. You might as probably reason thus, that because A Preacher once gaue exhortation to his Parishioners too beware of wrath, and to mainteine louelove and concerd: Therefore you are sure there shall neuer any discord be hearde of in that towne after that day, vntounto the ende of the worlde. Secondly this must bee graunted vntounto you also, that an exhortation made indifferently to all the faithfull people of Thessalonia: commaundeth a practise thereof to Byshoppes and Priestes onelyonly. For the Apostle arming the church of Thessalonia against Antichrist his forcible delusions, which the wicked shalbe geuen vp to beleeue, because they hauehave refused the louelove of the trueth: willeth not one sort of them particularly, but al of them generally, stedfastly to imbrace and holde fast those instructions, which they had receyued from him and the Apostles, eyther by woorde or writing. Thirdly, that woordes spoken without any limitation at all, are onelyonly iustified in them, who doe in order succeede one another: for you will hauehave these traditions to bee kept in a continuall succession of Byshoppes and Priestes onelyonly. Fourthly, that woordes mencioning thinges deliuered, and the maner how they are deliuered, doe necessarily inferre, howe they hauehave and shallbee preserued: for the Apostle telleth them that they are to keepe such thinges as hauehave bene deliuered vntounto them, whether it were by word or by writing: but hee bindeth them not to any certaine manner of keeping of thē, and much lesse to that manner, which he had deliuered them by: as if it shoulde bee vnlawfull to keepe any of that in writing, for the helpe of their memories: which hee had deliuered onelyonly in preaching. Now out of woordes that declare the manner of deliuering, you necessarily will conclude the manner of keeping. If al these things were graunted vntounto you, you might hauehave some colour for that matter which you are about to prooue: but as the place is of it selfe, I doe not remember that euer I hearde, so much weight to hauehave bene laid vponupon so weake a body.
Traditions (as the Apostle speaketh of them) are deliuered partly by writing, and partly by woorde of mouth: so that tradition is affected towardes the writtē woord of God, as the generall or vniuersall towardes his particular: you make them as two seuerall members, one diuerse from an other. Consider therefore well where you hauehave receiued this distinction, you may see that you hauehave it not from the Apostle, for he distinguisheth otherwyse. I woulde willingly learne, how you can proue, that matters of faith hauehave beene kept partly in tradition, (as you say) from the beginning. Irenaeus saith otherwyse, in the first Chapter of his thirde booke, as you hearde before:Irenaeus. Non per alios dispositionē salutis nostrae cognouimus quàm per eos, per quos Euangelium peruenit ad nos, quod quidem tunc praeconiauerunt, postea per Dei voluntatem in scripturis nobis tradiderunt: fundamentum fidei nostrae futurum. We knowe not our saluation by any other, then those by whome the Gospel hath come vntounto vsus, which then they preached, and afterwarde by the will of God left it in wryting, to be the piller of our faith. He saith that our faith must leane vponupon that which the Apostles first preached, and afterwarde by the will of God, left in wryting: and not as you woulde hauehave it, partly vponupon that, and partly vponupon tradition.
You bring another testimony out of the Epistle to the Corinthes, 2. Corint. 2.where the Apostle promiseth that he will order other thinges, when hee cometh: to prooue that the true faith hath beene partly keept in tradition. If they bee matters of faith which the Apostle speaketh of, in that place: tell vsus what they bee: if they bee no matters of Faith, but outward orders, then you speake not to the matter, which you hauehave taken in hande. For wee deny not, but the Churche may order outward thinges, as shalbee thought most meete to edify with all.
That the Sabboth day is chaunged frō the Saterday vntounto Sonday: that the Sacrament of Baptisme is more often administred thē it was in the primitiue church: that we are not restreined now à suffocato & sanguine: Maketh nothing against vsus: who knowe and professe, that outwarde thinges of that nature that these bee of, may be reteyned or refused by the churche, as they shall perceiue them tend to edifying, or otherwyse. Looke you wel vntounto it, whoe are of opinion, and doe professe, that the Apostles doctrine & traditions, are faithfully reserued, in a perpetuall succession of Bishoppes, and deliuered from one to another. How faithfully doe you reserue them, when you take liberty as you doe professe, to chaunge them? I say it standeth you vponupon, to looke how you chaunge any of their traditions, whoe take vponupon you to bee faithfull reseruers of the same, and men that are put in trust to deliuer them ouer vntounto their posterity. If any man shall consider aduisedly, howe your proofes doe confirme in this place, the matter that you hauehave taken in hande to prooue: hee shall hardly get them hang togither.
You say we are discharged of our abstinence from strangled and blood, not by Scripture: but by the authoritie of the Churche: who saith now in her generall councelles, as then shee did: Visum est spiritui Sancto & nobis: let me aske you this question, how it cometh to passe that of one thing, the Churche shoulde say: Visum est spiritui Sancto & nobis: And agayne of the same thing: Non visum est spiritui Sancto, & nobis: but by the Scripture, which telleth vsus, that such outwarde thinges are to be done and left vndone: as they shalbee thought to edifie our brethren or otherwyse. So that to maintayne peace and amity, betweene the Gentiles, & the Iewes who were so perswaded of Moses lawe, it was expedient for a tyme during this their persuasion, that the Gentiles should absteyne from their liberty: but after that the Iewes were perswaded, that the ceremonies must geue place to Christ and his Gospel, it was not expedient they should absteyne from their liberty any longer, neither did that rule of the Scriptures, which restrayneth things lawfull of themselues, vntounto that which is expedient: any longer binde them. The Churche said in that councell. Visum est spiritui Sancto & nobis, ne quid amplius imponeremus vobis oneris, quàm haec necessaria: After they had debated it by the Scriptures that Moses lawe, was not necessarily to be vrged vponupon the Gentiles: so that the reason why they say it seemes good vntounto the holy Ghost and vsus, is because they had learned by the Scriptures, which are the wrytinges of the Holy Ghoste: that the Gentiles were free, from the bondage of the ceremoniall lawe.
The olde way that the Prophet willeth them to inquire after, is that way, which is described in his woorde, as appeareth in the nyententh Verse of that Chapter, which you hauehave alleaged. If you woulde inquyre after that waye, these controuersies betweene you and vsus, woulde soon be at an end.
Assertion.
Now to prooue that lawfull succession of Bishoppes and Priestes ought to bee hearde and followed, which is the thing that continueth the trueth, which was receiued in the beginning, appointed by God, to continue for eueryevery age to the end of the same: I wil bring forth examples out of the very Scriptures. As first: Cain ought to hauehave obeyed Adam, to hauehave remayned with Seth, & not to hauehave constituted a newe company, in such sort, that there shoulde bee one Citie of the children of Men, and another of the children of God. Nemrod ought to hauehave kept himselfe in the succession of Seth, continued by Noe, and not to hauehave made himselfe a Prince by force, by which occasion, the Faith began to bee abandoned. Ismael and Esau, shoulde hauehave tarried in the succession, and not hauehave suffered their ofspring the Agarenes and Edomites, to leaue the olde Religion of Abraham Isaac and Iacob. Core, Dathan, and Abiram, shoulde not hauehave forsaken, the succession of Leui and of Aaron. Ieroboam shoulde not hauehave forsaken Moses chaire.
Manasses the brother of Iaddus,Ioseph. lib. in Antiqui. cap. 8. shoulde not hauehave forsaken the same succession, and hauehave gone to builde a newe temple,Iosep. de bello. Iudaico lib. 7. cap. 30. in the mount Garrizim. Onias shoulde not hauehave forsaken the knowen succession at Ierusalem, and hauehave built a Temple in Egypt. The Samaritans shoulde not hauehave sacrificed but only in Ierusalem. Then Christ comming according to the Prophesies of the saide lawe ended that succession and began a newe, from the which beginning vntounto the ende of the worlde, no man whatsoeuer he be, ought to forsake that ordinary succession that then began, but if he will doe well, must keepe himselfe therein vntill Christ come againe. These of the primitiue Churche, kept themselues with in the said succession, as Dionysius Saint Paule his scholler, Policarpus Saint Iohn the Euangelist his scholler, Ignatius, Clemens, Irenaeus, Abdias, and diuerse others. Nowe from this succession departed Marcion, Arius, Eunomius, Nestorius, Pelagius, Eutiches, with many others. Then in the said continued succession followed S. Basill, Saint Augustine, Saint Ambrose, Chrysostome, Tertullian, Saint Ierome, and many others. And from them departed Iouinian, Heluidius, The Donatistes with diuerse others. Now we hauehave and doe keepe in still with them in that continuall succession, and many hath and doeth depart from vsus, and as Saint Iohn saith: Ex nobis prodierunt, 1. Iohn. 2.sed non erant ex nobis: nam si fuissent ex nobis, permansissent vti{que} nobiscum. And as S. Austen witnesseth: Exire non sanae Doctrinae est. And Saint Ambrose saith:Ambros. hom. Omnem legis veteris seriem, fuisse typum futuri. Wherefore as they continued in the trueth, with the former principal succession, which held themselues there in the figure: so doe they now in the tyme of grace and trueth, by obseruing that order of succession, in the priesthoode of the newe lawe.