gregated cannot erre in the faith, a).Councels reprefent the Ca1ot erre,& therefore they cannot rius (b). The decrees of general ht as the holy Gofpels, faith Coand confirmed by the Pope cannot ar. Councels, being the highest cannot erre faith Tannerus (f). the Oracles of the holy Ghoft,faith ly cry out ευρηκα : Here is the & at least-fpes altera Roma. w whence comes this Infallibilibe from Gods promife (for they atural inhærent property of any junct.) And this promife mult be jine Revelation,i.e.either by Scri or other Revelation they do not hey and wee are agreed: Now I bility of Councels is not revealed nor in the other.

ditions of the Fathers; for among oned by them you fhall not find fallibility of Councels: Nor have know of) alledged one confideraerting that such a Tradition was m the Apoftles, though had there , they who were fo carefull to enuons of far leffe confequence, which tolicall Original,neither fhould nor o acquaint the Church with fo im is is now fuppofed to be:and this am non poteft errare in fide.lib,4.adverju hæ、 reprefentant Ecclefiam Catholicam que errare offunt. Eccius in Enchir c,2. Taper.in Art. A generalium. idem habent pondus &m in Enchiridio p.46. (d) Lib. 5.loc.com (f) In parte 3. Anat. Pem, 10. Sei

2.

F

Σ

I will adde a third (that you may fee it is a ruled cafe:) and that is Gretzerus. A Father (faith he) is one that feeds the Church with wholefome Doctrine: but if instead of corne be give chaff or tares, he is not now a Father but a stepFather, not a teacher but a feducer.

When the Fathers fay any thing which feems to countenance their pofitions, then they are Fathers, uncorrupt judges infallible interpreters,and Purgatory is too mild a punishment for him that shall goe one haires breadth from them. But if the Fathers will once begin to take upon them, if they will exceed those bounds the Pope hath fet them,and contradict his interest or opinion, then it is time to take them a peg lower, then they call them Fathers, but make children of them: They had better have held their tongues, for now all comes out, and the Papifts are the Chams (as they call the Proteftants) who uncover their Fathers nakedneffes: Then Eufebius (who when he is Orthodox in the Romane account paffeth for a most famous Writer, a most learned man, and a Catho lick with Lindanus, (a), Sixtus Senenfis (b) and others) is all on a fudden tranfubftantiated into an Arrian Heretick with Cofterus (c)and Baronius(d). Then poor Tertullias (who, when he speaks righteous things paffeth for a muft noble Author, the chiefe of all the Latine Fathers with Lindanus, (e)) is not fo much as a man of the Church;

*Nam Ecclefiæ pater ille dicitur qui Ecclefiam falutari doctrinâ &pafcit-Fam vero fi pro falutifero doctrina pabula-offerat & adducat lolium & zizania-perverforum dogmatum eatenus non Pater eft fed vitricus, non doctor fed feductor. In lib.z. de jure ac more" prohibendi libros noxios cap.10.

(a) Panopl.l.cap.17.§.inprimis. (b) Apud Baron.in Anal.tom.z.an. 340. (c) Hereticus Arrianus, la Apologiâ contra Grevinchottum c.8. n.9. (d) Loco jam citato.

(e) Nobilis admodum author,latinorum omnium facile princeps.Panop. lib.1.cap.23.

any,

hay, beis an bereticall Author, an herefiarch, a Montanift fay Azorius and Bellarm. b. Then Origen (who when he is a good boy paffeth for a witneffe beyond exception with Duraus another master of the Churches after the Apoftles as Jerome calls him faith Lindanus d) is a meer fchifmatick faith Canus the Father of the Arrians and Eunomians faith Maldonate . Then Conftantine himfelfe, (that you may fee the Church of Rome is not guilty of respect of perfons) is not much to be regarded: He was a greater Emperor then Doctor faith Bellarm. g Then Lactantius is better skilled in Tully, then in the Scripture: and Victorinus was a Martyr but wanted learning faith Bellarmine h. Nay, I think both he and the rest of the Fathers wanted wit as well as learning: for if they would but have blotted out all Anti-Romifh paffages. (which might have been done with one Blot, provided it reached from the beginning to the end of their works) they had all paffed for Orthodox and admirable men and we had not heard one word of their infirmities or mifcarriages.

What need I trouble my felfe and the Reader, with faying that which all the World knows concerning the Papifts receding from the common fence of the Fathers in expofitions of Scripture, and preferring new interpretations before them, not fearing their own Tridentine thunderbolt,That no man should dare to interpret Scripture

с

a Tom. 1. Moral.lib.8. cap.16. b Lib.i.de Sanctis cap.s. Teflic omnifane exceptione major. contra Whitak fol. 109. d Alterum Ecclefiarum poft Apoftolos Magiftrum ajebat Hieronymus. Panop lib.3.cap. 26. Loc.com.lib.7.cap.3. num.11. In Johan. 1.3. g Deverbo dei t. 4. C. 15. h Lactantius magis librorum Ciceronis quam Scripturarum Sanitarum peritus. Victorinus martyr quidem fuit, fed ei eruditio defuit.Lib.x.de fanctis c. 5. in fine.

against

against the common consent of the Fathers, (a)) For which Ifhall onely referre the reader to those places where he may be more fully fatisfied, that this was the opinion and practife of the Learned and approved Romanilts, as Cajetan (b) Pererius, (c) Maldonate (d) and severall others (e).

§. 9. In fhort, to strike the busineffe dead, you fhall® have the pofitive judgment of the principall pillars of the Romish Church: Sacred Doctrine (faith Aquinas) ufeth Authority of Scripture as a necessary Argument, but the Authorities of other Doctors of the Church onely as a pròbable Argument for our faith leanes upon the revelation "made to the Apostles and Prophets, not to other Doctors (f). The Authorities of the Fathers without the Scripture doth not oblige my faith, faith Biel (g). It is the property of the Holy Scriptures, that there is no error in it which needs Correction faith Baronius h). The Writings of the Fathers faich Bellarmine in totidem terminis) are not a rule, and have not authority to oblige me (i): And not contented to affert, he elfewhere offers proofs of the invalidity of the

(a) Seffione 4. (b) In Præfatione in Pentateuchum. (c) Lib.3. in Gen.qu.4.7.45.(d) in multis locis Joh.8.56. Mat. 16.18.

19.

(e) Stella in Luc.10.21. Baronius in Annal.Tom. 1. An. 34. Patres in Interpretatione Scriptura um non femper Catholicam Ecclefiam fequuntur. 1

(f) Sacra Doctrina Authoritatibus Canonice Scripture utitur propric, ex neceffitate Argumentando, authoritatibus autem aliorum doctorum Ecclefiæ arguendo ex propriis, fed probabiliter. Innititur enim fides noftra revelationi Apoftolis & Prophetis facte

non autem revela.

tioni,fi qua fuit aliis Doloribus falle. Part.1.qu.1.art.8. (f) Auiboritates patrum fine Scripturis non obligant ad fidem. Lect 41. in Canon: Mila.

(h) Divine tantum Scripture, nihil habcre erroris, quod corrigatur. Tom.4. Annal. An.3. (i) Patrum Scripta non funt regula,nec ha, Went authoritatem obligandi. De Concil.lib.2.cap.z.S.Dico fecundo.

Fathers