Chapter 8. Of the Power of the Church as Touching the Articles of Faith, and With How Unbridled a Licentiousness It Has in the Papacy Been Wrested to Corrupt All Purity of Doctrine

Now follows the third place, of the power of the Church, which partly consists in all the bishops, and partly in the Councils, and those either provincial or general. I speak only of the spiritual power, which is proper to the Church. That consists either in doctrine, or in jurisdiction, or in making of laws. Doctrine has two parts, the authority to teach articles of Doctrine, and the expounding of them. Before that we begin to discourse of every one of these in detail, we will that the godly readers be warned, that whatever is taught concerning the power of the Church, they must remember to apply to that end, to which (as Paul testifies) it was given: that is, to edification, and not to destruction: which whoever so lawfully uses, thinks himself no more than a minister of Christ, and likewise a minister of the people in Christ. Now of the edifying of the Church, this is the only way, if the ministers themselves endeavor to preserve to Christ his authority, which can not otherwise be safe, unless that be left to him, which he received of his Father: that is, that he be the only schoolmaster of the Church. For it is written, not of any other, but of him alone, Hear him. The power of the Church therefore is not to be sparingly set forth, but yet to be enclosed within certain bounds, that it be not drawn here and there after the lust of men. To this end it shall be much profitable to note, how it is described of the Prophets and Apostles. For if we simply grant to men such power as they wish to take upon them, it is plain to all men, what a slippery readiness there is to fall into tyranny, which ought to be far from the Church of Christ.

Therefore here it must be remembered, that whatever authority or dignity the Holy Spirit in the Scripture gives either to the priests, or to the Prophets, or to the Apostles, or to the successors of the Apostles, all that same is given, not properly to the men themselves, but to the ministry over which they are appointed, or (to speak it more plainly in one word) of which the ministry is committed to them. For if we go through them all in order, we shall not find that they had any authority to teach or to answer, but in the name and word of the Lord. For when they are called to the office, it is also enjoined them, that they should bring nothing of themselves, but speak out of the mouth of the Lord. And he himself does not bring them forth to be heard of the people, before that he has given them instructions what they ought to speak, to the intent that they should speak nothing beside his word. Moses himself, the prince of all the Prophets, was to be heard above the rest: but he was first instructed with his commandments, that he might not declare anything at all, but from the Lord. Therefore it is said, that the people when they embraced his doctrine, believed in God and in his servant Moses. Also that the authority of the priests should not grow in contempt, it was established with most grievous penalties. But therewith the Lord shows upon what condition they were to be heard, when he says that he has made his covenant with Levi, that the law of truth should be in his mouth. And a little after he adds: The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall require the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the God of hosts. Therefore if the priest will be heard, let him show himself the messenger of God: that is, let him faithfully report the commandments that he received from his author. And where it is specially treated of the hearing of them, this is expressly set, That they may answer according to the law of God.

What manner of power the Prophets generally had, is very well described in Ezekiel: You son of man (says the Lord) I have given you to be a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear the word out of my mouth, and you shall declare it to them from me. He that is commanded to hear out of the mouth of the Lord, is he not forbidden to invent anything of himself? But what is it to declare from the Lord, but so to speak as he may boldly boast, that it is not his own, but the Lord's word that he has brought? The very same thing is in Jeremiah, in other words. Let the Prophet (says he) with whom is a dream, tell a dream: and let him that has my word speak my word truly. Certainly he appoints a law to them all. And that is such, that he permits not any to teach more than he is commanded. And after he calls it chaff, all that is not come from himself only. Therefore none of the Prophets themselves opened his mouth, but as the Lord told him the words before. And so these sayings are so often found among them: the word of the Lord, the burden of the Lord, so says the Lord, the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And worthily. For Isaiah cried out that he had defiled lips, Jeremiah confessed that he could not speak, because he was a child: what could proceed from the defiled mouth of the one, and the foolish mouth of the other, but unclean and unwise, if they had spoken their own speech? But his lips were holy and pure, when they began to be the instruments of the Holy Spirit. When the Prophets are bound with this rule, that they deliver nothing, but that which they have received, then they are garnished with notable power and excellent titles. For when the Lord testifies, that he has set them over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and to root out, to destroy and pluck down, to build and to plant, he by and by adds the cause: because he has put his words in their mouth.

Now if you look to the Apostles: they are indeed commended with many and notable titles, that they are the light of the world, and the salt of the earth, that they are to be heard instead of Christ, that whatever they bind or loose on earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven. But in their very name they show how much is permitted them in their office: that is, if they be Apostles, that they should not prate whatever they list: but should faithfully report his commandments from whom they are sent. And the words of Christ are plain enough, in which he has determined their embassy: when he commanded them to go and teach all nations, all those things that he had commanded (Matthew 28:9). Indeed, he himself also received this law, and laid it upon himself, that it should be lawful for no man to refuse it. My doctrine (says he) is not mine, but his that sent me, my Father's (John 7:16). He that was always the only and eternal counselor of the Father, and he that was appointed by the Father the Lord and schoolmaster of all men, yet because he executed the ministry of teaching, prescribed by his own example to all ministers what rule they ought to follow in teaching. Therefore the power of the Church is not infinite, but subject to the word of the Lord, and as it were enclosed in it.

But since this has from the beginning been of force in the Church, and at this day ought to be in force, that the servants of God should teach nothing which they have not learned of him: yet according to the diversity of times they had diverse orders of learning. But that order which is now differs much from those that were before. First if it be true which Christ says, that none has seen the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it has pleased the Son to show him: it behooved verily that they should be always directed by that eternal wisdom of the Father, who would come to the knowledge of God (Matthew 11:27). For how should they either have comprehended in mind, or uttered the mysteries of God, but by his teaching, to whom alone the secrets of the Father are open? Therefore the holy fathers in old time knew God no other way but beholding him in the Son as in a glass. When I say this, I mean that God did never by any other means disclose himself to men but by the Son, that is, his only wisdom, light, and truth. Out of this fountain did Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the others draw all the knowledge that they had of heavenly doctrine. Out of the same fountain have also all the prophets themselves drawn all the heavenly oracles that they uttered. For verily this wisdom has always disclosed [reconstructed: itself] by more ways than one. To the patriarchs he used secret revelations: but therewith to confirm their minds, he joined such signs, that it could not be doubtful to them, that it was God that spoke. The patriarchs conveyed over from hand to hand to posterity, that which they had received. For the Lord left it with them to this end, that they should so spread it abroad. But the children and children's children, by God secretly informing them, did know that that which they heard was from heaven, and not from the earth.

But when it pleased God, to raise a more apparent form of a Church, he willed to have his word put in writing and noted, that the priests should fetch from there what they might deliver to the people, and that all the doctrine that should be taught should be tried by that rule. Therefore after the publishing of the law, when the priests are commanded to teach out of the mouth of the Lord, the meaning is, that they should teach nothing strange or differing from that kind of learning which the Lord comprehended in the law: and to add and diminish was unlawful for them. Then followed the prophets, by whom indeed the Lord published new oracles to be added to the law: but yet not so new, but that they came out of the law, and had respect to it. For, as concerning doctrine, they were only expositors of the law, and added nothing to it, but prophecies of things to come. Those excepted, they uttered nothing else but a pure exposition of the law. But because it pleased the Lord that there should be a plainer and larger doctrine, that weak consciences might be the better satisfied: he commanded that the prophecies also should be put in writing, and accounted part of his word. And to this were added the histories, which are also the works of the prophets, but made by the inditing of the Holy Spirit. I reckon the Psalms among the prophecies, because that which we attribute to the prophecies is also common to the Psalms. Therefore that whole body compiled of the law, prophecies, Psalms and histories, was the word of the Lord to the old people, by the rule whereof the priests and teachers even to Christ's time were bound to examine their doctrine: neither was it lawful for them to swerve either to the right hand or to the left: because all their office was enclosed within these bounds, that they should answer the people out of the mouth of God. Which is gathered from a notable place of Malachi, where he bids them to be mindful of the law, and to give heed to it, even to the preaching of the Gospel (Malachi 2:7). For thereby he forbids them all newfound doctrines, and grants them no leave to swerve never so little out of the way which Moses had faithfully showed them (Malachi 4:4). And this is the reason why David so honorably sets out the excellence of the law, and rehearses so many praises of it: that is, that the Jews should covet no foreign thing without it, since within it was all perfection enclosed.

But when at last the wisdom of God was openly shown in the flesh, that same wisdom with full mouth declared to us all that ever can with man's wit be comprehended, or ought to be thought concerning the heavenly Father. Now therefore, since Christ the Son of righteousness has shined, we have a perfect brightness of the truth of God, such as the clearness is wont to be at midday, when the light was before but dim. For truly the Prophet meant not to speak of any mean thing, when he wrote that God in old times spoke diversely and many ways to the fathers by the prophets: but that in these last days he began to speak to us by his beloved Son. For he signifies, indeed he openly declares, that God will not hereafter, as he did before, speak sometimes by some and sometimes by others, nor will add prophecies to prophecies, or revelations to revelations: but that he has so fulfilled all the parts of teaching in the Son, that they must have this from him for the last and eternal testimony. After which sort all this time of the new Testament wherein Christ has appeared to us with the preaching of his Gospel even to the day of judgment, is expressed by the last hour, the last times, the last days: to the end that, contented with the perfection of the doctrine of Christ, we should learn neither to feign to us any new thing beside it, nor receive it feigned by others. Therefore not without cause the Father has by singular prerogative ordained the Son to be our Teacher: commanding him, and not any man, to be heard. He did indeed in few words set out his schoolmastership to us, when he said, hear him: but in which there is more weight and force than men commonly think. For it is as much in effect, as if leading us away from all doctrines of men, he should bring us to him only, and command us to look for all the doctrine of salvation at him alone, to hang upon him alone, to cleave to him alone, finally (as the very words do sound) to hearken to the voice of him alone. And truly what ought there now to be either looked for or desired at the hand of man, when the very word of life has familiarly and openly disclosed himself to us? Indeed, but it is fitting that the mouths of all men be shut, after that he, in whom the heavenly Father willed to have all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom to be hidden, has once spoken, and so spoken as became both the wisdom of God (which is in no part imperfect) and Messiah at whose hand the revelation of all things is hoped for: that is to say, that he left nothing afterward for others to be spoken.

Let this therefore be a steadfast principle: that there is to be had no other word of God, to which place should be given in the Church, than that which is contained first in the law and the Prophets, and then in the writings of the Apostles: and that there is no other manner of teaching rightly, but according to the prescription and rule of the word. From this we also gather, that there was no other thing granted to the Apostles, but that which the Prophets had had in old time: that is, that they should expound the old Scripture, and show that those things that are therein taught are fulfilled in Christ: and yet that they should not do the same but from the Lord, that is to say, the Spirit of Christ going before them, and after a certain manner inditing words to them. For Christ limited their commission with this condition, when he commanded them to go and teach, not such things as they themselves had rashly invented, but all those things that he had commanded them. And nothing could be more plainly spoken, than that which he says in another place: but be not you called masters, for only one is your master, Christ. Then, to imprint this more deeply in their minds, he repeats it twice in the same place. And because their rudeness was such, that they could not conceive those things that they had heard and learned from the mouth of their master, therefore the Spirit of truth is promised them, by whom they should be directed to the true understanding of all things. For the same restraining is to be diligently noted, where this office is assigned to the Holy Spirit, to put them in mind of all those things that he before taught them by mouth.

Therefore Peter, who was very well taught how much he might lawfully do, leaves nothing either to himself or others, but to distribute the doctrine delivered of God. Let him that speaks (says he) speak as the words of God, that is to say, not doubtingly, as they are wont to tremble whose own conscience misgives them, but with sure confidence, which becomes the servant of God furnished with assured instructions. What other thing is this, but to forbid all inventions of man's mind, from whatever head they have proceeded, that the pure word of God may be heard and learned in the Church of the faithful? To take away the ordinances or rather the feigned devices of all men, of whatever degree they be, that the decrees of God only may remain in force? These are those spiritual weapons, mighty through God to cast down strongholds: by which the faithful servants of God may throw down counsels, and all height that advances itself against the knowledge of God, and may lead all knowledge captive to obey Christ. Behold, this is the sovereign power, with which it behoves the Pastors of the Church to be endowed, by whatever name they be called, that is, that by the word of God they may with confidence be bold to do all things: may compel all the strength, glory, wisdom, and height of the world to yield and obey his majesty: being upheld by his power, may command all even from the highest to the lowest: may build up the house of Christ and pull down the house of Satan: may feed the sheep and drive away the wolves: may instruct and exhort the willing to learn, may reprove, rebuke, and subdue the rebellious and stubborn: may bind, and loose: finally may thunder and lighten, if need be: but all things in the word of God. However, there is, as I have said, this difference between the Apostles and their successors, that the Apostles were the certain and authentic secretaries of the Holy Spirit, and therefore their writings are to be esteemed for the oracles of God: but the others have no other office, but to teach that which is set forth and written in the holy Scriptures. We determine therefore, that this is not now left to faithful ministers, that they may coin any new doctrine, but that they ought simply to cleave to the doctrine, to which the Lord has made all men without exception subject. When I say this, my meaning is not only to show what is lawful for all particular men, but also what is lawful for the whole universal Church. Now as touching all particular men: Paul verily was ordained by the Lord Apostle to the Corinthians: but he denies that he has dominion over their faith. Who now dares take a dominion upon himself, which Paul testifies that it belongs not to him? If he had acknowledged himself to have this liberty of teaching, that whatever the Pastor teaches he may therein of right require to be believed: he would never have taught the Corinthians this discipline, that while two or three prophets speak, the rest should judge, and if it were revealed to any that sat, the first should hold his peace. For so he spared none, whose authority he made not subject to the judgment of the word of God. But, will some man say, of the whole universal Church the case is otherwise. I answer that in another place Paul meets with this doubt also, where he says, that faith is by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Truly if faith hangs on the word of God only, has respect to and rests upon it alone, what place is there now left to the word of the whole world? For herein no man may doubt, that has well known what faith is. For faith ought to be stayed upon such assuredness, whereby it may stand invincible against Satan, and all the engines of hell, and against the whole world. This assuredness we shall nowhere find but in the only word of God. Again, it is a general rule, which we here ought to have respect to: that God does therefore take from men the power to set forth a new doctrine, that he only may be our schoolmaster in heavenly learning, as he only is true who can neither lie nor deceive. This rule belongs no less to the whole Church, than to every one of the faithful.

But if this power of the Church, which we have spoken of, be compared with that power, of which the spiritual tyrants, that have falsely called themselves Bishops and Prelates of religion, have in certain ages past boasted themselves among the people of God, the agreement shall be no better than Christ has with Belial. Yet it is not in this place my purpose to declare in what sort and with how wicked means they have exercised their tyranny: I will but rehearse the doctrine, which at this day they defend, first with writings, and then with sword and fire. Because they take it for a thing confessed, that a general Council is the true image of the Church, when they have taken this principle, they do without doubt determine, that such councils are immediately governed of the Holy Spirit, and that therefore they cannot err. But whereas they themselves do rule the councils, indeed and make them, they do indeed challenge to themselves whatever they affirm to be due to the Councils. Therefore they will have our faith to stand and fall at their will, that whatever they shall determine on the one side or the other, may be established and certain to our minds: so that if they allow anything we must allow the same without doubting: if they condemn anything we must also hold it for condemned. In the meantime after their own desire, and despising the word of God, they coin doctrines, to which afterward they require by this rule to have faith given. For they also say that he is no Christian, that does not certainly consent to all their doctrines as well affirmative as negative: if not with expressed yet with unexpressed faith: because it is in the power of the Church, to make new articles of the faith.

First let us hear by what arguments they prove that this authority is given to the Church: and then we shall see how much that makes for them which they allege of the Church. The Church (say they) has notable promises, that it shall never be forsaken of Christ her spouse, but that it shall be guided by his Spirit into all truth. But of the promises which they are wont to allege, many are given no less to every one of the faithful particularly, than to the whole Church universally. For though the Lord spoke to the 12 Apostles, when he said: Behold I am with you even to the end of the world: Again: I will ask my Father, and he shall give you another comforter, namely the Spirit of truth: yet he made the promise not only to the whole number of the 12, but also to every one of them: yes to the other disciples likewise, either those that he had already received, or those that should afterward be added to them. But when they expound such promises full of singular comfort, as though they were given to none of the Christians, but to the whole Church together: what do they else, but take away from all Christians that confidence which they all ought to receive thereby to encourage them? Yet I do not here deny, but that the whole fellowship of the faithful furnished with manifold diversity of gifts, is endued with much larger and more plentiful treasure of the heavenly wisdom, than each one severally: neither is it my meaning, that this is so spoken in common to the faithful, as though they were all alike endued with the Spirit of understanding and doctrine: but because it is not to be granted, to the adversaries of Christ, that they should for the defense of an evil cause wrest the Scripture to a wrong sense. But, omitting this, I simply confess that which is true, that the Lord is perpetually present with his, and rules them with his Spirit. And that this Spirit is not the Spirit of error, ignorance, lying or darkness: but of sure revelation, wisdom, truth, and light, of whom they not deceitfully may learn those things that are given them, that is to say, what is the hope of their calling, and what be the riches of the glory of the inheritance of God in the saints. But whereas the faithful, even they that are endued with more excellent gifts above the rest, do in this flesh receive only the first fruits and a certain taste of that Spirit: there remains nothing dearer to them than knowing their own weakness, to hold themselves carefully within the bounds of the word of God: lest, if they wander far after their own sense, they by and by stray out of the right way, in so much as they be yet void of that Spirit, by whose only teaching truth is discerned from falsehood. For all men do confess with Paul, that they have not yet attained to the mark. Therefore they more endeavor to daily profiting, than glory of perfection.

But they will take exception, and say that whatever is particularly attributed to every one of the holy ones, the same does thoroughly and fully belong to the Church itself. Although this has some seeming of truth, yet I deny it to be true. God does indeed so distribute to every one of the members the gifts of his Spirit by measure, that the whole body lacks nothing necessary, when the gifts are given in common. But the riches of the Church are always such, that there ever lacks much of that highest perfection, which our adversaries do boast of. Yet the Church is not therefore so left destitute in any behalf, but that she always has so much as is enough. For the Lord knows what her necessity requires. But, to hold her under humility and godly modesty, he gives her no more than he knows to be expedient. I know what here also they are wont to object, that is, that the Church is cleansed with the washing of water in the word of life, that it might be without wrinkle and spot, and that therefore in another place it is called the pillar and stay of truth. But in the first of these two places is rather taught, what Christ daily works in it, than what he has already done. For if he daily sanctifies, purges, polishes, wipes from spots all them that be his: truly it is certain that they are yet besprinkled with some spots and wrinkles, and that there lacks somewhat of their sanctification. But how vain and fabulous is it, to judge the Church already in every part holy and spotless, whereof all the members are spotty and very unclean? It is true therefore that the Church is sanctified of Christ. But only the beginning of that sanctifying is here seen: but the end and full accomplishment shall be, when Christ the holiest of holy ones shall truly and fully fill it with his holiness. It is true also that the spots and wrinkles of it are wiped away: but so that they be daily in wiping away, until Christ with his coming does utterly take away all that remains. For unless we grant this, we must of necessity affirm with the Pelagians, that the righteousness of the faithful is perfect in this life: and with the Cathani and Donatists we must suffer no infirmity in the Church. The other place, as we have elsewhere seen, has a sense utterly differing from that which they pretend. For when Paul has instructed Timothy, and framed him to the true office of a Bishop, he says that he did it to this purpose, that he should know how he ought to behave himself in the Church. And that he should with the greater religiousness and endeavor bend himself to that end, he adds that the Church is the very pillar and stay of truth. For what else do these words mean, but that the truth of God is preserved in the Church, namely by the ministry of preaching? As in another place he teaches, that Christ gave Apostles, Pastors and Teachers, that we should no more be carried about with every wind of doctrine, or be mocked of men: but that being enlightened with the true knowledge of the Son of God, we should altogether meet in unity of faith. Whereas therefore the truth is not extinguished in the world, but remains safe, that same comes to pass because it has the Church a faithful keeper of it, by whose help and ministry it is sustained. But if this keeping stands in the ministry of the Prophets and Apostles, it follows that it hangs wholly hereupon, if the word of the Lord be faithfully preserved and does keep its purity.

But that the readers may better understand, upon what point this question chiefly stands, I will in few words declare what our adversaries require, and wherein we stand against them. Where they say that the Church cannot err, it tends hereto, and thus they expound it, that inasmuch as it is governed by the Spirit of God, it may go safely without the word: that wherever it goes, it can think or speak nothing but truth: that therefore if it determine anything without or beside God's word, the same is no otherwise to be esteemed than as a certain Oracle of God. If we grant that first point, that the Church cannot err in things necessary to salvation, this is our meaning, that this is therefore because forsaking all her own wisdom, she suffers herself to be taught of the Holy Ghost by the word of God. This therefore is the difference. They set the authority of the Church without the word of God, but we will that it be annexed to the word, and suffer it not to be severed from it. And what marvel is it, if the spouse and scholar of Christ be subject to her husband and schoolmaster, that she continually and earnestly hangs on his mouth? For this is the order of a well-governed house, that the wife should obey the authority of the husband: and this is the rule of a well-ordered school, that the teaching of the schoolmaster alone should there be heard. Therefore let the Church not be wise of herself, not think anything of herself: but determine the end of her wisdom where he has made an end of speaking. After this manner she shall also distrust all the inventions of her own reason: but in those things wherein she stands on the word of God, she shall waver with no distrustfulness or doubting, but shall rest with great assuredness and steadfast constancy. So also trusting upon the largeness of those promises that she has, she shall have whereupon abundantly to sustain her faith: that she may nothing doubt that the best guide of the right way the Holy Spirit is always present with her: but therewith she shall keep in memory what use the Lord would have us to receive of his Holy Spirit. The Spirit (says he) which I will send from my Father, shall lead you into all truth. But how? because (says he) he shall put you in mind of all those things that I have told you. Therefore he gives warning that there is nothing more to be looked for of his Spirit, but that he should enlighten our minds to perceive the truth of his doctrine. Therefore Chrysostom says excellently well. Many (says he) do boast of the Holy Spirit: but they which speak their own do falsely pretend that they have him. As Christ testified that he spoke not of himself: because he spoke out of the law and the Prophets: so if anything beside the Gospel be thrust in under the title of the Spirit, let us not believe it because as Christ is the fulfilling of the law and the Prophets: so is the Spirit, of the Gospel. These be his words. Now it is easy to gather, how wrongfully our adversaries do, who boast of the Holy Ghost to no other end, but to set forth under his name strange and foreign doctrines from the word of God: whereas he will with unspeakable knot be conjoined with the word of God, and the same does Christ profess of him when he promises him to his Church. So is it truly. What sobriety the Lord has once prescribed to his Church, the same he will have to be perpetually kept. But he has forbidden her, that she should not add anything to his word, nor take anything from it. This is the inviolable decree of God and of the Holy Ghost, which our adversaries go about to abrogate, when they feign that the Church is ruled of the Spirit without the word.

Here again they murmur against us, and say that it behooved that the Church should add some things to the writings of the Apostles, or that they themselves should afterward with living voice supply many things which they had not clearly enough taught, namely since Christ said to them: I have many things to be said to you, which you cannot now bear: and that these be the ordinances, which without the Scripture have been received only in use and manners. But what shamelessness is this? I grant the disciples were yet rude, and in a manner unfit to learn, when the Lord said this to them. But were they then also held with such dullness, when they did put their doctrine in writing, that they afterward needed to supply with living voice that which they had by fault of ignorance omitted in their writings? But if they were already led by the Spirit of truth into all truth when they did set forth their writings: what hindered that they have not therein contained and left written a perfect knowledge of the doctrine of the Gospel? But go to: let us grant them that which they require. Only let them point out what be those things that it behooved to be revealed without writing. If they dare enterprise that, I will assail them with Augustine's words: that is, When the Lord has said nothing of them, which of us dare say, these they be or those they be? Or if any dare say so, whereby does he prove it? But why do I strive about a superfluous matter? For a very child does know, that in the writings of the Apostles, which these men do make in a manner lame and but half perfect, there is the fruit of that revelation which the Lord did then promise them.

What? say they, did not Christ put out of controversy whatever the Church teaches and decrees, when he commands him to be taken for a heathen man and a tax collector that dare say against her? (Matthew 18:17) First in that place is no mention made of doctrine, but only the authority of the censures is established for correcting of vices, that they which have been admonished or rebuked should not resist her judgment. But omitting this, it is much marvel, that these losels have so little shame, that they dare be proud of that place. For what shall they get thereby, but that the consent of the Church is never to be despised, which never consents but to the truth of the word of God? The Church is to be heard, say they. Who denies it? forasmuch as it pronounces nothing but out of the word of the Lord. If they require any more, let them know that these words of Christ do nothing take their part therein. Neither ought I to be thought too much contentious because I stand so earnestly upon this point, that it is not lawful for the Church to make any new doctrine, that is, to teach and deliver for an Oracle any more than that which the Lord has revealed by his word. For men of sound wit do see how great danger there is, if so great authority be once granted to men. They see also how wide a window is opened to the mockings and cavils of the wicked, if we say that that which men have judged is to be taken for an Oracle among Christians. Beside that, Christ speaking according to the consideration of his own time, gives this name to the Synagogue, that his disciples should afterward learn to reverence holy assemblies of the Church. So should it come to pass that every city and village should have equal authority in coining of doctrines.

The examples which they use, do nothing help them. They say that the baptizing of infants proceeded not so much from the express commandment of the Scripture as from the decree of the Church. But it were a very miserable succor, if we were compelled to flee to the bare authority of the Church for defense of the baptism of infants: but it shall in another place sufficiently appear that it is far otherwise. Likewise whereas they object that it is nowhere found in the Scripture, which was pronounced in the Nicene Synod, that the Son is consubstantial with the Father: therein they do great wrong to the fathers, as though they had rashly condemned Arius, because he would not swear to their words, when he professed all that doctrine which is comprehended in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles. This word, I grant, is not in the Scripture: but when therein is so often affirmed, that there is but one God, again Christ is so often called the true and eternal God, one with the Father: what other thing do the fathers of the Nicene council when they declare that he is of one substance, but simply set out the natural sense of the Scripture? But Theodoret reports that Constantine used this preface in their assembly (Ecclesiastical History, book [illegible], Chapter 5). In disputations, said he, of divine matters, there is a prescribed doctrine of the Holy Spirit: the books of the Gospels and of the Apostles, with the Oracles of the Prophets, do fully show us the meaning of God. Therefore laying away discord, let us take the discussions of questions out of the words of the Spirit. There was at that time no man that spoke against these holy monitions. No man took exception, that the Church might add somewhat of her own: that the Spirit revealed not all things to the Apostles, or at least uttered them not to those that came after: or any such thing. If it be true which our adversaries would have: first, Constantine did evil, that took from the Church her authority: then, whereas none of the Bishops at that time rose up to defend it, this was not without breach of their faith: for so they were betrayers of the right of the Church. But since Theodoret recounts that they willingly embraced that which the Emperor said, it is certain that this new doctrine was then utterly unknown.

Next comes the third subject: the power of the church, which belongs partly to all bishops and partly to councils, whether provincial or general. I am speaking only of the spiritual power that is proper to the church. This spiritual power consists in three things: doctrine, jurisdiction, and the making of laws. Doctrine itself has two parts: the authority to define articles of doctrine, and the authority to interpret them. Before we discuss each of these in detail, I want to give godly readers one important warning: whatever is taught about the power of the church must always be understood in light of the purpose for which — as Paul testifies — it was given: to build up, not to tear down. Whoever uses this power rightly thinks of himself as nothing more than a servant of Christ, and equally a servant of the people in Christ. There is only one way to build up the church: ministers must labor to preserve for Christ His own authority. That authority cannot remain intact unless what He received from His Father is left to Him — namely, that He alone is the teacher of the church. For it is written of no one else but Him: 'Listen to Him.' The church's power, then, must be clearly set forth — but it must be kept within definite limits, so that it is not pulled in whatever direction human desire dictates. To this end, it will be very helpful to see how this power is described by the prophets and apostles. For if we simply hand over to men as much authority as they wish to take, it is obvious how quickly the door opens to tyranny — which must have no place in Christ's church.

This must be kept in mind: whatever authority or dignity the Holy Spirit in Scripture gives to priests, prophets, apostles, or the successors of the apostles — all of it is given not to the men themselves, but to the ministry to which they are appointed, or more plainly, with which they have been entrusted. For if we go through them all in order, we will find that none of them had authority to teach or to speak except in the Lord's name and by the Lord's word. When they are called to office, they are also charged to bring nothing from themselves, but to speak from the Lord's own mouth. The Lord does not bring them before the people to be heard until He has given them their instructions — so that they speak nothing beyond His word. Moses himself, the greatest of all the prophets, was to be heard above all others — but he was first equipped with God's commandments so that he would declare nothing except what came from the Lord. Therefore it is said that when the people received his teaching, they believed in God and in His servant Moses. To prevent the priests' authority from being treated with contempt, it was maintained by very severe penalties. But the Lord also shows the condition under which they were to be heard, when He says He made His covenant with Levi — that the law of truth would be in his mouth. A little further He adds: 'The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and people shall seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.' So if a priest wishes to be heard, let him show himself to be God's messenger — that is, let him faithfully report the commandments he received from his master. And where the hearing of priests is specifically addressed, this is the express condition: that they answer according to the law of God.

The kind of authority the prophets generally held is described very clearly in Ezekiel: 'Son of man,' says the Lord, 'I have appointed you as a watchman to the house of Israel. You shall hear the word from My mouth and give them warning from Me.' The one commanded to hear from the Lord's mouth — is he not thereby forbidden to invent anything of his own? And what does it mean to declare from the Lord, except to speak in such a way that one can honestly say: this is not my word, it is the Lord's? The same principle appears in Jeremiah, in different words: 'Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, and let him who has My word speak My word faithfully.' He clearly lays down a law for all of them — one that permits no one to teach beyond what has been commanded. And he calls chaff everything that does not come from God alone. None of the prophets ever opened his mouth except as the Lord had first given him the words. This is why phrases like these appear so frequently among them: 'The word of the Lord,' 'the burden of the Lord,' 'thus says the Lord,' 'the mouth of the Lord has spoken.' And rightly so. Isaiah cried out that his lips were unclean; Jeremiah confessed he did not know how to speak because he was only a youth. What could come from the defiled lips of one and the halting speech of the other, but something impure and unwise, if they had spoken their own words? But their lips became holy and pure when they became instruments of the Holy Spirit. When the prophets are bound by this rule — to deliver nothing except what they have received — they are then clothed with remarkable power and given outstanding titles. For when the Lord declares that He has set them over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant — He immediately adds the reason: because He has put His words in their mouths.

Now consider the apostles: they are given many outstanding titles — light of the world, salt of the earth, to be heard as representing Christ, and whatever they bind or loose on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven. But their very title shows the limits of their authority. If they are 'apostles' — that is, those sent — they are not free to say whatever they please. They are messengers, bound to faithfully deliver the commandments of the one who sent them. Christ's own words make this clear when He defined their commission: He commanded them to go and teach all nations everything He had commanded (Matthew 28:19). Indeed, Christ submitted Himself to this same law, and made it binding for all. 'My teaching is not My own,' He said, 'but comes from the Father who sent Me' (John 7:16). He who was always the eternal counselor of the Father, and whom the Father appointed Lord and teacher of all people — even He, in carrying out the ministry of teaching, set by His own example the rule that all ministers are to follow. The church's power is therefore not unlimited. It is subject to the Lord's word and, so to speak, enclosed within it.

From the beginning it has been binding in the church — and it remains binding today — that God's servants may teach only what they have learned from Him. Yet the manner in which they received their instruction has differed across the ages. The order of learning that exists now differs greatly from those that came before. First: if it is true, as Christ says, that no one has seen the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him — then everyone who has ever come to the knowledge of God has had to be guided by the Father's eternal wisdom (Matthew 11:27). For how could they have grasped or expressed the mysteries of God except through the teaching of the one to whom alone the Father's secrets are open? The holy fathers of old therefore knew God only by beholding Him in the Son as in a mirror. By this I mean that God has never disclosed Himself to human beings except through the Son — His only wisdom, light, and truth. From this fountain Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the rest drew whatever knowledge of heavenly doctrine they possessed. From the same fountain all the prophets drew the heavenly oracles they proclaimed. For this wisdom always made itself known by more than one means. To the patriarchs He used secret revelations, but He confirmed their minds with signs so clear that there could be no doubt that God Himself was speaking. The patriarchs then passed down from hand to hand what they had received, for the Lord entrusted it to them so that they would spread it abroad. And their children and grandchildren, inwardly taught by God, knew that what they heard had come from heaven and not from the earth.

But when it pleased God to establish a more visible form of the church, He had His word put into writing, so that the priests could draw from it what they would deliver to the people, and so that all teaching could be tested against that standard. After the publishing of the law, when the priests were commanded to teach from the Lord's mouth, this meant they were to teach nothing foreign or different from what the Lord had given in the law. It was not lawful for them to add to it or subtract from it. Then came the prophets, through whom the Lord published new oracles to be added to the law — yet not so new that they did not flow from the law and remain consistent with it. In terms of doctrine, the prophets were simply expositors of the law, adding nothing to it beyond prophecies of things to come. Apart from those prophecies, they said nothing beyond a clear exposition of the law. But because the Lord was pleased to give a fuller and more expanded teaching, so that troubled consciences might be better satisfied, He directed that the prophecies also be written down and counted as part of His word. To this were added the historical books, which are also the work of the prophets, composed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I include the Psalms among the prophecies, since what is true of the prophecies applies equally to the Psalms. This whole body — comprising law, prophecies, Psalms, and histories — was the word of the Lord for the ancient people, and by this rule the priests and teachers were bound to examine their doctrine all the way to Christ's coming. They were not free to turn to the right or to the left, for their entire office was enclosed within these bounds: they were to answer the people from the mouth of God. This is clearly expressed in a notable passage of Malachi, where he calls them to be mindful of the law and to hold to it, even until the preaching of the Gospel (Malachi 2:7). By this he forbids all newly invented doctrines and grants no license to stray even slightly from the path Moses faithfully set out (Malachi 4:4). This is also why David speaks so magnificently about the excellence of the law and heaps so many praises on it — so that the Jews would desire nothing outside it, since all perfection was enclosed within it.

But when at last the wisdom of God was openly revealed in the flesh, that same wisdom declared to us fully everything that can be grasped by human understanding or ought to be known about the heavenly Father. Now that Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, has risen, we have the perfect brightness of God's truth — as clear as noonday light, compared to the faint light that came before. The author of Hebrews was not speaking of something trivial when he wrote that God in times past spoke in many and various ways to the fathers through the prophets, but that in these last days He has spoken to us by His beloved Son. He is saying — and saying it plainly — that God will no longer speak as before, sometimes through one person and sometimes through another, adding prophecy to prophecy and revelation to revelation. Rather, He has fulfilled all parts of His teaching in the Son, and we must receive from Him this final and eternal testimony. This is why the entire era of the New Testament — from Christ's appearing in the Gospel's proclamation to the day of judgment — is described as 'the last hour,' 'the last times,' 'the last days.' The purpose is that, satisfied with the perfection of Christ's teaching, we should neither invent anything new alongside it nor receive such inventions from others. It is therefore not without reason that the Father by singular prerogative has appointed the Son to be our teacher, commanding that He — and no one else — be heard. In just a few words He set out the Son's teaching authority when He said, 'Listen to Him.' But these words carry far more weight and force than people commonly recognize. The effect is as though the Father were drawing us away from all human teaching, bringing us to Christ alone, and commanding us to seek all saving doctrine from Him alone, to depend on Him alone, to cling to Him alone — and, as the very words ring out, to hear His voice alone. And truly what more should be sought or desired from human beings, now that the very Word of life has openly and fully made Himself known to us? Indeed, now that He in whom the heavenly Father willed all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom to be hidden has spoken — and spoken in a way befitting both the wisdom of God, which is perfect in every part, and the Messiah from whose hand the full revelation of all things was expected — all human mouths should be silent. He left nothing afterward for others to add.

Let this therefore be a fixed principle: the only word of God that has any place in the church is what is contained first in the law and the prophets, and then in the writings of the apostles. And the only proper way to teach is according to the direction and rule of this word. From this we also understand that the apostles were given nothing different from what the prophets had in ancient times — that is, to expound the old Scripture and show that what it teaches was fulfilled in Christ. And even this they were not to do on their own initiative, but guided by the Spirit of Christ going before them and, in a sense, giving them the words. For Christ defined their commission with this boundary when He commanded them to go and teach — not things they had rashly invented themselves, but everything He had commanded them. Nothing could be more clearly stated than what He says elsewhere: 'Do not be called teachers, for you have only one teacher, Christ.' And to stamp this more deeply into their minds, He repeats it twice in the same passage. Because their capacity was such that they could not yet fully understand what they had heard and learned from their Master's lips, the Spirit of truth was promised to them — to guide them into the full understanding of all things. And this limit must be carefully noted where the Holy Spirit's office is defined: His task was to bring to their minds all those things that Christ had previously taught them by word of mouth.

Peter, who was well taught as to the limits of his authority, therefore leaves neither to himself nor to others anything except the distribution of the doctrine delivered by God. 'Whoever speaks,' he says, 'let him speak as the words of God' — that is, not with hesitation, as those whose conscience fails them are accustomed to tremble, but with the sure confidence that befits a servant of God equipped with certain instruction. What else is this but to forbid all inventions of human minds — from whatever source they originate — so that the pure word of God alone may be heard and taught in the assembly of believers? It is to sweep away the ordinances — or rather the fabrications — of all people, whatever their rank, so that only God's decrees remain in force. These are the spiritual weapons that are mighty through God for tearing down strongholds — by which faithful servants of God may demolish arguments and every proud obstacle that raises itself against the knowledge of God, and lead every thought captive into obedience to Christ. This, then, is the supreme power with which the church's pastors must be clothed, by whatever title they may be called. By the word of God they should be bold to act with confidence in all things. They should bring all the strength, glory, wisdom, and pride of the world to yield before His majesty. Upheld by His power, they should govern all — from the greatest to the least. They should build Christ's house and pull down Satan's. They should feed the sheep and drive away the wolves. They should instruct and encourage those willing to learn, and rebuke, correct, and restrain the rebellious. They should bind and loose — and thunder and lightning if necessary. But all of this in the word of God. There is, however, the difference I mentioned between the apostles and their successors: the apostles were the authorized and authentic secretaries of the Holy Spirit, and their writings are therefore to be received as the oracles of God. Their successors have no other office than to teach what has been set forth and written in the Holy Scriptures. We therefore conclude that faithful ministers today are not free to forge any new doctrine — they must simply hold to the teaching to which the Lord has made all people without exception subject. When I say this, I mean not only what is lawful for every individual, but what is lawful for the whole universal church. As for individuals: Paul was appointed by the Lord as apostle to the Corinthians — yet he denies having authority over their faith. Who now dares claim a dominion that Paul himself says does not belong to him? If Paul had believed he had the freedom to teach that whatever a pastor says must by right be believed, he would never have given the Corinthians this rule: that when two or three prophets speak, the rest should weigh what is said, and if something is revealed to another who is seated, the first should give way. By this rule he subjected the authority of all to the judgment of God's word. But someone may say: the case of the whole universal church is different. Paul answers this objection too, where he says that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God. If faith depends on God's word alone, looks to it alone, and rests on it alone — what room remains for the word of the whole world? No one who truly understands what faith is can doubt this. Faith must rest on a certainty that stands invincible against Satan, against all the powers of hell, and against the whole world. That certainty is found nowhere but in the word of God alone. And here is a general rule that applies: God withholds from human beings the power to put forth new doctrine precisely because He alone is to be our teacher in heavenly things — as He alone is truthful and cannot lie or deceive. This rule applies to the whole church no less than to every individual believer.

But if the church power we have described is compared with the power in which the spiritual tyrants — those who have falsely called themselves bishops and rulers of religion — have gloried among God's people in recent centuries, the agreement is no better than that between Christ and the devil. It is not my purpose here to describe in what manner and by what wicked means they have exercised their tyranny. I will only state the doctrine they defend today — first with writings, and then with sword and fire. They take it as settled that a general council is the true image of the church. From this premise they conclude without hesitation that such councils are directly governed by the Holy Spirit and therefore cannot err. But since they themselves control and in effect create the councils, they end up claiming for themselves whatever they attribute to councils. So they want our faith to stand or fall at their will — whatever they decide, on any question, is to be established and certain for our minds. If they approve something, we must approve it without doubting. If they condemn something, we must hold it condemned. Meanwhile, following their own desires and ignoring God's word, they manufacture doctrines, and then demand by this rule that those doctrines be believed. They even say that anyone who does not give certain assent to all their teachings — both positive and negative — is no Christian: if not with explicit faith, then with implicit faith, since it is within the church's power to create new articles of faith.

First let us hear what arguments they use to prove that this authority belongs to the church, and then we can see how much the passages they cite actually support their position. The church, they say, has outstanding promises: that Christ her spouse will never forsake her, and that His Spirit will guide her into all truth. But many of the promises they typically cite were given no less to each believer individually than to the whole church universally. When the Lord said to the twelve apostles, 'I am with you always, to the end of the age,' and 'I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, the Spirit of truth' — He made these promises not only to the twelve as a group, but to each one of them. And likewise to the other disciples, both those He had already received and those who would afterward be added. When they interpret such deeply comforting promises as though given only to the whole church together and not to individual Christians, what are they doing but robbing all Christians of the confidence those promises were meant to give each one? I am not denying that the whole fellowship of believers, furnished with the varied gifts of the Spirit, possesses a much richer and more abundant treasury of heavenly wisdom than any one believer alone. Nor am I saying that all believers are equally endowed with the Spirit of understanding and doctrine. But it cannot be granted to the enemies of Christ that they should twist Scripture to a false meaning in defense of a bad cause. Setting that aside, I simply acknowledge what is true: the Lord is perpetually present with His people and governs them by His Spirit. And this Spirit is not the spirit of error, ignorance, lying, or darkness — but of sure revelation, wisdom, truth, and light. By Him believers may truly learn what has been given them — that is, the hope of their calling and the riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints. But since even the most gifted believers receive in this life only the first fruits and a foretaste of that Spirit, nothing is more proper for them than to recognize their own weakness and hold carefully to the bounds of God's word. If they wander far by their own thinking, they quickly go astray — they are still dependent on that Spirit, by whose teaching alone truth is discerned from falsehood. For all people, with Paul, acknowledge they have not yet reached the goal. So they press on toward daily growth, rather than boasting of perfection.

Our opponents will object that whatever belongs individually to each holy person belongs completely and fully to the church as a whole. This has some appearance of truth, but I deny it is true. God does distribute the gifts of His Spirit to each member in measure — but He does so in such a way that the whole body lacks nothing necessary when the gifts are shared together. Yet the church's riches are always such that there remains much short of that highest perfection our opponents boast of. The church is never so bereft that she lacks what is enough — for the Lord knows what she needs. But to keep her in humility and godly modesty, He gives her no more than He judges expedient. I know what they typically raise here: that the church is cleansed by the washing of water with the word of life, so that she might be without wrinkle or spot — and that elsewhere she is called the pillar and support of truth. But the first of these two passages describes what Christ is daily doing in the church, not what He has already fully accomplished. For if He daily sanctifies, purges, polishes, and cleanses all those who are His — then clearly they are still marked by some spots and wrinkles, and their sanctification is not yet complete. How foolish and fictional it is to declare the church already perfect and spotless in every part, when all its members are still imperfect and unclean. It is true that the church is being sanctified by Christ. But only the beginning of that sanctification is visible now. The end and full completion will come when Christ, the Holy of Holies, truly and fully fills her with His holiness. It is true that her spots and wrinkles are being wiped away — but they are still being wiped away day by day, until Christ at His coming removes everything that remains. Unless we grant this, we must affirm with the Pelagians that the righteousness of believers is already perfect in this life — and we must follow the Cathars and Donatists in tolerating no weakness in the church. The other passage has a meaning, as we have seen elsewhere, entirely different from what they claim. Paul, having instructed Timothy and shaped him for the true work of a bishop, says he did it so that Timothy would know how to conduct himself in the church — and he adds that the church is the pillar and support of truth, to encourage Timothy to apply himself with greater zeal. What else do those words mean but that God's truth is preserved in the church — that is, through the ministry of preaching? As Paul says elsewhere, Christ gave apostles, pastors, and teachers so that we might no longer be tossed about by every wind of doctrine or deceived by men, but that, enlightened with the true knowledge of the Son of God, we might all come together in unity of faith. The fact that truth is not extinguished in the world but remains intact is due to the church being its faithful guardian and sustainer through her service. But if this guardianship consists in the ministry of the prophets and apostles, then it depends entirely on whether the Lord's word is faithfully preserved and kept pure.

To help readers understand exactly where this question turns, I will briefly state what our opponents require and where we oppose them. When they say the church cannot err, they mean this: since the church is governed by the Spirit of God, it can go safely without the word. Wherever it goes, it can think or speak nothing but truth. Therefore, if it makes any determination without or alongside God's word, that determination is to be received as a kind of divine oracle. When we say the church cannot err in things necessary to salvation, we mean something entirely different: namely, that this is true only because the church abandons all her own wisdom and allows herself to be taught by the Holy Spirit through the word of God. This is the difference. They place the church's authority outside the word of God. We insist that it must be tied to the word and cannot be separated from it. Is it surprising that the bride and disciple of Christ should be subject to her husband and teacher, hanging continually and eagerly on His every word? This is the order of a well-governed home — the wife submits to the husband's authority. This is the rule of a well-ordered school — the teacher's voice alone is to be heard. So let the church not be wise by her own wisdom or rely on her own conclusions, but let her end her thinking where He has ended His speaking. In this way she will also distrust all the inventions of her own reason. But in those things where she stands on God's word, she will waver with no doubt or uncertainty, but rest with great assurance and firm constancy. Trusting in the fullness of the promises she has received, she will have abundant ground on which her faith may rest — she need not doubt that the Holy Spirit, the best guide of the right way, is always present with her. But she must also keep in mind what use the Lord intends us to make of His Holy Spirit. 'The Spirit whom I will send from the Father,' He says, 'will lead you into all truth.' How? 'Because He will remind you of all the things I have told you.' By this He indicates that nothing more is to be expected from the Spirit than that He would illuminate our minds to grasp the truth of Christ's own teaching. Chrysostom says it well: 'Many boast of the Holy Spirit, but those who speak their own words falsely pretend to have Him. As Christ testified that He did not speak of Himself — because He spoke from the law and the prophets — so if anything beside the Gospel is thrust in under the title of the Spirit, we should not believe it. For as Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, so the Spirit is the fulfillment of the Gospel.' From this it is easy to see how wrong our opponents are when they invoke the Holy Spirit for no other purpose than to introduce under His name doctrines that are foreign to God's word. For the Spirit will be inseparably joined to God's word — which is exactly what Christ declares when He promises the Spirit to His church. This is the truth. The sobriety the Lord once prescribed for His church, He requires to be maintained forever. He has forbidden her to add anything to His word or take anything away from it. This is God's inviolable decree — and this is what our opponents seek to overturn when they pretend the church is governed by the Spirit apart from the word.

Here they complain again, saying that the church had to add something to the apostles' writings — or that the apostles themselves afterward supplied by word of mouth many things they had not taught clearly enough in their writings. They cite Christ's words: 'I have many things to say to you, which you cannot bear now.' And they claim that these are the traditions which, without written Scripture, have been received through custom and practice. But what shamelessness is this? I grant that the disciples were still inexperienced and in some ways not yet ready to learn when the Lord said those words. But were they in the same condition of dullness when they wrote their teachings — needing to later supply by word of mouth what they had ignorantly left out? If they were already led by the Spirit of truth into all truth when they wrote, what prevented them from containing within those writings a full and complete knowledge of the Gospel's doctrine? But let us grant them what they ask. Let them only point out what those things are that needed to be revealed without being written down. If they dare attempt that, I will confront them with Augustine's words: 'When the Lord has said nothing about them, which of us would dare say these are the ones or those are the ones? And if anyone dares say so, how would he prove it?' But why argue over something so unnecessary? Any child knows that in the apostles' writings — which these men treat as crippled and only half complete — is found the very fruit of the revelation the Lord had then promised them.

They say: did not Christ settle all dispute about whatever the church teaches and decrees, when He commanded that anyone who speaks against the church should be treated as a pagan and a tax collector (Matthew 18:17)? First, that passage says nothing about doctrine at all. It only establishes the authority of censures for correcting sins — so that those who have been admonished or rebuked will not resist the church's judgment. But setting that aside, it is remarkable how little shame these men have in appealing to that passage. For what does it give them, except that the consent of the church is never to be despised — and the church only consents to the truth of God's word? The church is to be heard, they say. Who denies it — as long as it speaks nothing but from the word of the Lord? If they want to claim more than that, let them know that Christ's words there give them nothing. Nor should anyone think me too contentious for standing so firmly on this point: that the church is not permitted to create any new doctrine — that is, to teach and deliver as an oracle anything beyond what the Lord has revealed in His word. People of sound judgment can see how great the danger is if such authority is once handed over to men. They can also see how wide a door is opened to the mockery and scheming of the wicked, if we say that what men have decided is to be received as an oracle among Christians. Furthermore, Christ in that passage was speaking in the context of His own time — He was giving that title to the synagogue, so that His disciples would afterward learn to respect holy assemblies of the church. By the same logic, every city and village would have equal authority to manufacture new doctrines.

The examples they use do nothing to help their case. They say that the baptism of infants rests not so much on an express command of Scripture as on a decree of the church. But it would be a sorry defense if we had to fall back on the bare authority of the church to justify infant baptism. It will be shown clearly in another place that the matter stands very differently. Similarly, they object that the Nicene Council's declaration that the Son is consubstantial with the Father is nowhere found in those exact words in Scripture. But in saying this they do great injustice to the fathers — as though the fathers had rashly condemned Arius simply because he refused to swear to their wording, when he professed everything contained in the writings of the prophets and apostles. I grant that the exact word 'consubstantial' is not in Scripture. But when Scripture so repeatedly affirms that there is only one God, and so repeatedly calls Christ the true and eternal God, one with the Father — what else were the fathers of the Nicene Council doing when they declared Him to be of one substance, but simply expressing in clear terms the natural meaning of Scripture? Theodoret records that Constantine opened their assembly with these words: 'In disputes about divine matters, there is a prescribed teaching of the Holy Spirit. The books of the Gospels and the Apostles, along with the oracles of the Prophets, show us fully the mind of God. Therefore, setting aside discord, let us draw our discussions of these questions from the words of the Spirit.' No one at that time spoke against these holy words. No one raised the objection that the church may add something of her own — that the Spirit did not reveal everything to the apostles, or at least did not pass it on to those who came after, or any such argument. If our opponents were right, then first, Constantine sinned by taking away the church's authority. And since none of the bishops rose to defend it, they were not without guilt — they would have been traitors to the church's rights. But since Theodoret records that they willingly embraced what the Emperor said, it is certain that this new doctrine was completely unknown at that time.