13. 66 66 holy writ," the servant of the Lord ought "not to love strife and quarrels, but to be gen“tle, affable, and patient towards all mankind, "and to reprove with modesty those who differ " from him in opinion."-" Let them only treat you with rigour, who know not how difficult "it is to find out the truth, and avoid errour. "Let those treat you with rigour, who are igno"rant how rare and painful a work it is calmly "to dissipate the carnal phantoms, that disturb even a pious mind. Let those treat you with 66 rigour, who are ignorant of the extreme diffi"culty that there is to purify the eye of the in"ward man, to render him capable of seeing "the truth, which is the sun, or light of the "soul. Let those treat you with rigour, who "have never felt the sighs and groans that a soul "must have before it can attain any knowledge "of the divine Being. To conclude, let those "treat you with rigour who never have been "seduced into errours, near a-kin to those you 66 66 are engaged in. I pass over in silence that pure wisdom, which but a few spiritual men "attain to in this life; so that though they "know but in part, because they are men; yet "nevertheless they know what they do know "with certainty: for, in the catholic church, it " is not penetration of mind, nor profound knowledge, but simplicity of faith, which puts men "in a state of safety. 66 66 "Barbari quippe homines Romanæ, imo po"tius humanæ eruditionis expertes, qui nihil "omnino sciunt, nisi quod à doctoribus suis "audiunt: quod audiunt hoc sequuntur, ac sic necesse est eos qui totius literaturæ ac scientiæ ignari, sacramentum divinæ legis doctrina, magis quam lectione, cognoscunt, doctrinam "potius retinere, quam legem. Itaque eis tra"ditio magistrorum suorum & doctrina invete"rata, quasi lex est, qui hoc sciunt, quod do 66 14. CONFESSIO FIDEI.] "Periculosum nobis admodum "atque etiam miserabile est, tot nunc fides ex"istere, quot voluntates: & tot nobis doctrinas esse, quot mores: & tot causas blasphemia“ rum pullulare, quot vitia sunt: dum aut ita fides scribuntur, ut volumus, aut, ita ut volu 66 66 mus, intelliguntur. Et cum secundum unum "Deum & unum Dominum, & unum baptisma, "etiam fides una sit, excidimus ab eâ fide, quæ “sola est : & dum plures fiant, id esse cœpe"runt, ne ulla sit; conscii enim nobis invicem 66 sumus, post Nicæni conventûs synodum, nihil ❝ aliud quam fidem scribi. Dum in verbis 64 pugna est, dum de novitatibus quæstio est, "dum de ambiguis occasio est, dum de autori"bus querela est, dum de studiis certamen est, "dum in consensu difficultas est, dum alter alteri "anathema esse cæpit, prope jam nemo est "Christi, &c. Jam vero proximi anni fides, quid jam de immutatione in se habet? Pri"mum, quæ homousion decernit taceri: sequens 66 66 rursum, quæ houmousion decernit & prædicat. "Tertium deinceps, quæ ousiam simpliciter à "patribus præsumptam, per indulgentiam ex66 cusat. Postremum quartum, quæ non excu"sat, sed condemnat, &c. De similitudine au"tem filii Dei ad Deum patrem, quod misera"bilis nostri temporis est fides, ne non ex toto, " sed tantum ex portione sit similis ? Egregii "scilicet arbitri cœlestium sacramentorum conquisitores, invisibilium mysteriorum profes❝sionibus de fide Dei calumniamur, annuas 66 66 atque menstruas de Deo fides decernimus, "decretis pœnitemus, pœnitentes defendimus, "defensos anathematizamus, aut in nostri ali"ena aut in alienis nostra damnamus, & mor"dentes invicem, jam absumpti sumus invicem." Hilarius, p. 211, in lib. ad Constantium Augustum. Basil. 1550, fol. "It is a thing equally deplorable and dangerous that there are at present as many creeds 15. 66 as there are opinions among men, as many "doctrines as inclinations; and as many sources " of blasphemy, as there are faults among us; because we make creeds arbitrarily, and 66 explain them as arbitrarily. And as there is " but one faith; so there is but one only God, 66 one Lord, and one baptism. We renounce "this one faith, when we make so many differ❝ent creeds; and that diversity is the reason "why we have no true faith among us. We 66 66 cannot be ignorant that, since the council of Nice, we have done nothing but make creeds. "And while we fight against words, litigate "about new questions, dispute about equivocal "terms, complain of authors, that every one 66 may make his own party triumph; while we "cannot agree, while we anathematise one an"other, there is hardly one that adheres to "Jesus Christ. What change was there not in "the creed last year! The first council ordain❝ed a silence upon the homousion; the second "established it, and would have us speak; the "third excuses the fathers of the council, and ૬૯ pretends they took the word ousia simply: "the fourth condemns them, instead of ex"cusing them. With respect to the likeness "of the Son of God to the Father, which is "the faith of our deplorable times, they "dispute whether he is like in whole, or in 66 part. These are rare folks to unravel the "secrets of heaven. Nevertheless it is for "these creeds, about invisible mysteries, that 66 we calumniate one another, and for our "belief in God. We make creeds every 66 year, nay every moon we repent of what "we have done, we defend those that repent, "we anathematise those we defended. So we "condemn either the doctrine of others in our"selves, or our own in that of others, and, re"ciprocally tearing one another to pieces, we "have been the cause of each other's ruin." 66 66 66 HÆRETICI.] "centur. Hæretici ergo sunt, sed non V. 13. "scientes. Denique apud nos sunt hæretici, 16. " apud se non sunt. Nam in tantam se catho"licusesse judicant, ut nos ipsos titulohæreticæ appellationis infament. Quod ergo illi nobis "sunt & hoc nos illis. Nos eos injuriam divinæ generationi facere certi sumus, quod minorem patre filium dicant. Illi nos injuriosos patri "existimant, quia æquales esse credamus. Ve"ritas apud nos est; sed illi apud se esse præ"sumunt. Honor Dei apud nos est: sed illi "hoc arbitrantur, honorem divinitatis esse "quod credunt. Inofficiosi sunt, sed illis hoc est "summum religionis officium. Impii sunt, " sed hoc putant esse veram pietatem. Errant ergo, sed bono animo errant, non odio sed "affectu Dei, honorare se dominum atque 66 66 amare credentes. Quamvis non habeant rec"tam fidem, illi tamen hoc perfectam Dei, æs“timant caritatem. Qualiter pro hoc ipso "falsæ opinionis errore in die judicii puniendi “sunt, nullus scire potest nisi judex. Interim "idcirco eis,utreor, patientiam Deus commodat, 66 quia videt eos, etsi non rectè credere, affectu "tamen piæ opinionis errare." Salvinus. This bishop speaks here of the Arian Goths and Vandals: "They are, (says he,)Barbarians, "who have no tincture of the Roman polite 66 ness, and who are ignorant of what is very "commonly known among other men, and "only know what their doctors have taught "them, and follow what they have heard them 66 say. Men so ignorant as these find them"selves under a necessity of learning the mys"teries of the gospel, rather by the instruc"tions that are given them, than by books." "The tradition of their doctors and the re"ceived doctrines are the only rule they follow, "because they know nothing but what they "have taught them. They are then heretics, "but they know it not. They are so in our 17. "account, but they believe it not; and think "themselves so good catholics, that they treat "us as heretics, judging of us as we do of them. "We are persuaded that they believe amiss "concerning the divine generation, when they "maintain the Son is inferior to the Father; "and they imagine that we rob the Father of "his glory who believe them both to be equal. "We have the truth on our side, and they pre"tend it is on theirs. We give to God his due "honour, and they think they honour him bet"ter. They fail in their duty, but they imagine they perform perfectly well; and they make true piety to consist in what we call impious. They are in a mistake, but with a great deal of sincerity; and it is so far from being an effect of their hatred, that it is a "mark of their love of God, since, by what they “do, they imagine they show the greatest re"spect for the Lord, and zeal for his glory. "Therefore, though they have not true faith, 66 66 66 they nevertheless look upon that which they "have as a perfect love of God. It belongs 66 only to the judge of the universe to know how "these men will be punished for their errours "at the last day. Yet I believe God will "show compassion towards them, because he "sees their heart is more right than their "belief, and that, if they are mistaken, it is "their piety made them err." |