1 council, wherein are many witnessing together, that the Scripture is so perfect that nothing is to be added to it.* Ambrose said, "Anathema to him, that adds any thing to the Scripture, or takes from it; and all the bishops said, let him be accursed." And their own canon law,† reciting the words of Cyprian, "That the Scripture must be followed, and not custom or traditions," says, "If Christ only is to be heard, we ought not to regard what any one before us thought was to be done; but what Christ, who was before all, did; neither ought we to follow the custom of men, but the truth of God; since the Lord has said by the prophet Isaias, "In vain do they worship me, teaching the commands and doctrine of men." And again," It is not lawful for the emperor, or any other person piously disposed, to presume any thing against the divine precepts, nor to do any thing that is contrary to the rules of the evangelists, prophets, or apostles." Then their writings must be perfect, or we shall often be at a loss for want of a rule to direct us. All these, and multitudes more, taught this long before Luther. * Concil. Aquileien. Surius. tom. 1. de Concil. p. 477. + Corp. Jur. Can. Distinct. 8. c. si Solus. Ibid. Distinct. 10. c. non licet. II. That the People ought to read the Scripture, and therefore it ought to be translated into Vulgar Tongues, was a Doctrine taught long before Luther, By Chrysostom, "Let the word of God dwell in you richly' he doth not say only 'let it dwell in in you,' but in great abundance.' Hear this, ye worldly men, that have wives and children, how he commands you to read the Scriptures, and that not slightly, but with all diligence. Hear this, I pray you, all ye that are careful about the things of this life, and get you Bibles, which are the medicines of your souls. Ignorance of the Scriptures is the cause of all evils. We go to war without our weapons, how then can we be safe?" &c. In another place, he instructed the people, "That when they went from the congregation to their houses, they should take their Bibles, and call their wives and children to participate of the discourse of the things that were said." And in another place, he exhorts them diligently to attend the reading of the Holy Scripture, "Not only when they came to the assembly, but * ̓Ακουσαζε όσοι εστε κοσμικοι και γυναικος και παίδων προίστασθε, πως καὶ ὑμῖν ἐπιτρεπει μαλιστα τας γραφας αναγίνωσκειν. Και ουκ άπλως ουδε ώς ετυχεν, αλλα μάλα πολλής της σπουδής.—ακουσαίε, παρακαλών παντες οἱ βιωλικοι και κλασθε βιβλια φαρμακα της ψυχής. Τουτο πανίων αιτιον των κακών, το μη ειδέναι τας γραφας. Χωρίς όπλων εἰς πολεμον Badiloμer nat was edel ownval, &c. Chrysost. in Coloss. Homil. 9. Item in Mat. Homil. 2. in Mat. Hom. 5. to this purpose also, de Lazar. Hom. 3. in Genes. Homil. 29. In Johan. Homil. 1. at home to take the Sacred Scriptures. into their hands;" and this he does by an argument drawn from the great profit that they may receive thereby. Elsewhere, he also mentions, that the Syrians, Egyptians, Indians, Persians, Ethiopians, and multitudes more, had the doctrines of the Scripture translated into their own tongues. The like also by Saint Augustine,* "It is come to pass that the Scripture, wherewith so many diseases of men's wills are healed, proceeding from one tongue, which fitly might be dispersed through the world, being spread far and wide by means of the divers languages whereinto it is translated, is thus made known to nations for their salvation; which, when they read, they desire nothing else but to attain to the mind of him that wrote it, and so to the will of God, according to which we believe such men spake." To the new doctrine of Hosius, president at the council of Trent, "That a distaff was fitter for women than a Bible," we will oppose the testimony of Theodoret,‡ of the old practice in the church on this point: "You shall every where see these points of our faith to be known and understood, not only by such as are teachers in the church, but even of cobblers, and smiths, and weavers, and all kinds of artificers; yea all our women, not they only who * Aug. de Doct. Christ. lib. 2. cap. 5. + Hos. de Expres. Dei Verb. Theodoret. de Curand: Græco. affect. lib. 5. are book-learned, but they also that get their living with their needle, yea maid servants, and waiting women; and not citizens only, but husbandmen of the country, are very skilful in these things; yea, you may hear our ditchers, and neat-herds, and wood-setters, discoursing of the Trinity and creation," &c. III. That Religious Worship was not to be given to Images, or Reliques of Saints, was taught long before Luther. When Polycarp suffered, the envious persecutors not willing that his body should be honourably buried, as the Christians were desirous to do, moved the proconsul not to deliver to the Christians the body of Polycarp, lest they, leaving Christ, should fall to worship him; concerning which the Church of Smyrna, in their epistle to the church at Philomilium, &c., said, "This they said, being ignorant of this, that we can never forsake Christ, and that we can worship no other; for we worship Christ as the Son of God, the martyrs we love as disciples and followers of the Lord.”* About the time of Sylvester I., who lived A. D. 314, a council was so far from worshipping images, that "they would not have any pictures in the churches, lest that which is worshipped or adored * Euseb. Eccles. Histor. lib. 4. cap. 15. should be painted on walls."* Also, about the year 700, a synod at Constantinople (which the Greeks call the seventh,) not only condemned the worship of images, but also images themselves, and that they should be cast out of churches. Gregory, bishop of Neocæsarea (not the ancient of that title, but another since him), wrote a book against images, which was read and approved by this council, and inserted into the synodical acts as a common decree; in which book there are testimonies of Scripture and fathers against the idolatry of images; and that they would not allow any image or picture of Christ, but anathematized them that should draw his effigies in material colours, (Can. 8-13), and determined that there was one only image appointed by Christ, to wit, the blessed bread and wine in the eucharist [Lord's supper] which represent to us the body and blood of Christ. The second Nicene synod was against this, and for images, and a synod at Francfort against the second council and their images. Pezelius gives us this account, that Leo III., emperor, called a synod about the year 730, in which it was controverted, whether images were to be worshipped, &c. the issue whereof was that the fathers then present, (except only Germanus, who * Placuit, picturas in ecclesia esse non debere; ne quod colitur, aut adoratur, in parietibus depingatur. Concil. Eliber. Can. 36. Illirie. Catal. Test. Verit. pag. 73, 74% |