Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Church Militant · The Church Spread Throughout the Whole World
Chapter 28: The Eighth Mark: Holiness of Doctrine
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Ecclesia Militante, On the Church Militant (of the controversy On Councils and the Church). The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
The eighth Mark is the Holiness of doctrine. For the true Church is not only Catholic, Apostolic, one, but also holy, as the Constantinopolitan Creed has it. Now it is established that the Church is called holy because its profession is holy, containing nothing false as to the doctrine of faith, nothing unjust as to the doctrine of morals. Whence in Psalm 18 the law of the Lord is called unspotted, the testimony faithful, the commandment of the Lord lightsome. From this Mark it is evidently shown that there is no true Church but ours. For there is no sect — whether of Pagans, or Philosophers, or Jews, or Turks, or heretics — which does not contain some proven errors, and manifestly contrary to right reason.
Of the Pagans, worshippers of many gods, how absurd and base were the things they held, Minucius Felix shows in the Octavius, Arnobius in Books 4, 5, 6, and 7 against the Gentiles, and Augustine in Book 7 of the City of God throughout; nor does anyone at this time doubt of this matter.
Of the ancient Philosophers the same Theodoret teaches, in his book on the laws, which is the ninth to the Greeks; where he teaches that by the laws of Lycurgus adulteries are permitted; by the laws of the Persians, incestuous marriages with mothers, daughters, sisters are permitted; by the laws of the Massagetae, the dying and the old are devoured by their kinsmen; by the laws of the Tibareni, the old are cast down from high towers; by the laws of the Hyrcanians, the corpses of men are thrown to dogs; by the laws of the Scythians, the living, who had been beloved by them, are buried with the dead; and by the laws of Plato, which seemed the best of all, horrible vices are prescribed or praised, as the community of wives, unspeakable lust, the destruction of what is conceived, the killing of infants, and the like.
Of the Mohammedans the same is plain from the Koran. For chapter 2 teaches that all are saved in their own laws, if they keep them — Jews, Christians, Turks; chapters 5, 28, 47, 48, and elsewhere passim, it teaches that the blessedness of the future life consists in food, and drink, and a multitude of wives; nor is there ever, in the whole Koran, mention made of the spiritual actions of the vision or the love of God. Chapter 43 says that God and the Angels pray for Mohammed. Like most absurd things are read everywhere in the Koran.
Of the Jews who wrote after the coming of Christ it is manifest from their own books. For, first of all, in the doctrine of the Talmud, which is their unwritten word of God, are found innumerable errors, of which see Sixtus of Siena, Book 2 of the Holy Library. R. Solomon, whom the Jews make much of, in his commentary on chapter 2 of Genesis, on that verse, This now is bone of my bones, says that Adam had carnal congress with all the beasts and wild animals, and could not satisfy his lust until he came to the embraces of Eve. The same, on chapter 28 of Numbers, on that verse, And on the calends you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord, himself reads a holocaust of the Lord, and says that it was commanded that a holocaust be offered on the day of the new moon for the sin of God, which He committed when He diminished the light of the moon. Which fable the same R. Solomon narrates on chapter 1 of Genesis, on that verse, Two great lights. The same, on chapter 4 of Deuteronomy, on that verse, God created man, says that Adam was so tall that with his head he touched heaven while he was on the earth. Like things occur everywhere in the books of the Jews.
Of the ancient Heretics the same can be shown. For there was scarcely any heresy which had not manifest errors. The Gnostics, among other things, taught that fornications ought to be frequented, and all luxury exercised, yet conception avoided; and if conception followed by chance, they drew it out from the womb of the pregnant, and, having bruised it in a mortar and seasoned it with honey and pepper, devoured it; and in this way they said they celebrated a great Pasch. So relates Epiphanius, heresy 26.
The Carpocratians taught that everyone is bound to perpetrate all kinds of crimes, and if, when they died, they had not perpetrated all, they said the souls were sent back to bodies, and that so often, until they filled up the measure of crimes; and in this way they expounded that of the Gospel: Thou shalt not go out from thence, till thou repay the last farthing. So relates Epiphanius, heresy 27.
The Montanists made a sacrifice from the blood of a year-old infant, whom, with small wounds by brazen needles, they wholly drained, with incredible cruelty. Augustine is witness, heresy 26.
The Manichees taught that it is an equal sin to cut a leaf from a tree and to kill a man. The same asserted that parts of the divine essence are held captive by the princes of darkness, and that some of them are freed, others to be damned for ever. Augustine, heresy 46.
The Donatists, to make themselves martyrs, cast themselves down from mountains, or drowned themselves in waters, or threw themselves into fire, or threatened death, and inflicted it, on those who would not kill them. Augustine is witness, letter 30, and Theodoret, Book 4 on heretical fables. Of this kind infinite things could be adduced.
The sectaries of our time teach that every man is justified by special faith alone, by which each certainly believes that for Christ's sake he is just before God — which may be compared with any paradox. For it is not above or beside reason, but plainly against all reason. For I ask: when I begin to believe that I am just, I am either just or unjust; if just, then I am not justified by the faith by which I believe I am just, because that faith is later than my justice; if unjust, then that faith is false, therefore it is not the divine justifying faith — unless we say that men are justified by a lie.
Moreover all the Lutherans especially extol the spirit of prayers and invocation, and yet this faith takes away the Lord's Prayer. For if I certainly believe that I have no sin, I lie, if with this faith I say, Forgive us our debts. Moreover the Calvinists altogether condemn the Anabaptists, nor do they think that they can be justified or saved unless they be converted from their errors; and yet they know that the Anabaptists certainly believe themselves to be just; therefore they are forced to say that they are at once both just and not just.
Besides this common dogma, each has his own proper dogmas, full of manifest absurdity. The Anabaptists, besides many others, have nocturnal conventicles, in which they practice dog-like nuptials, as is gathered from their articles, which John Cochlaeus refuted; and openly they join even with their own sisters. Article 11 of the Anabaptists is: no one ought to preach publicly; article 17: after the sermon let there be an exhortation that they increase and multiply; article 19: it is lawful for a brother to take his own sister to wife.
The Lutherans have as almost their proper error that most manifest one, that infants, while they are baptized, use reason, hear the word of God, believe, love — which in the Synod of Wittenberg in the year 1536 they had publicly defined. Which yet openly contradicts the truth; as Augustine, letter 57 to Dardanus, writes that they do injury to the human senses who say this. For how is it credible that an infant, who cries and struggles as much as he can while he is washed, understands what is being done? Moreover the Calvinists have as their proper opinion that one most openly repugnant not only to piety but also to reason: that all things come to pass by absolute necessity, and that God is the cause of sins — from which almost all the Lutherans have now departed.
But our Catholic Church teaches no error, no baseness, nothing against reason, although many things above reason. And so it alone is absolutely holy, and to it alone applies what we say in the Creed: “I believe the holy Church.” Which thing they showed against the Pagans — Justin in both his Apologies, Tertullian in the Apologetic, chapter 36 and following, Arnobius in Books 1, 2, and 3 against the Gentiles, Minucius Felix in the Octavius, Augustine in the books of the City of God. And against the Pagans and all the heretics the same blessed Thomas shows most accurately in his books against the Gentiles.
Let us conclude therefore with Saint Augustine, Book 2 of the City of God, chapter 28: “Nothing base and shameful is set forth in the Christian Churches to be gazed at and imitated; where either the precepts of the true God are instilled, or His miracles narrated, or His gifts praised, or His benefits sought.” And Book 20, chapter 7: “Truth was persuading, new to custom, but not contrary to reason.”
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XI. Nota octava. Octava Nota est Sanctitas doctrinae. Vera enim Ecclesia non solum est Catholica, Apos- tolica, una, sed etiam sancta, ut habet Sym¬ bolum Constantinopolitanum. Constat autem sanctam dici Ecclesiam , quia professio ejus est sancta , nihil continens falsum quoad fi¬ dei doctrinam, nihil injustum quoad doctri¬ nam morum. Unde in Psalm. XVIII. appel¬ latur lex Domini immaculata , testimonium fidele, praeceptum Domini lucidum. Ex hac nota evidenter ostenditur nullam esse veram Ecclesiam, nisi nostram. Nulla enim est sec¬ ta vel Paganorum , vel Philosophorum, vel Judaeorum, vel Turearum, vel haereticorum, quae non contineat aliquos exploratos erro¬ res, et rectae rationi manifeste contrarios. De Paganis multorum Deorum cultoribus ostendit quam absurda , ac turpia senserint Minutius Felix in Octavio, Arnobius lib. IV, V, VI et VII contra Gentes ; et Augustinus lib. VII de civitate Dei, per totum, nec ullus de hac re hoc tempore dubitat. De Philosophis antiquis idem docet Theo- doretus in lib. de legibus, qui est nonus ad Graecos; ubi docet, Lycurgi legibus permitti adulteria : legibus Persarum, permitti inces¬ tas nuptias cum matribus, filiabus, soro¬ ribus : legibus Massagetarum , morituros et senes a propinquis devorari : legibus Tiba¬ renorum , dejici senes ex altis turribus : le¬ gibus Hyrcanorum , projici cadavera homi¬ num canibus : legibus Scvtharum, cum mor¬ tuis sepeliri vivos, qui ab eis dilecti fuerant: legibus Platonis, quae visae sunt omnium op¬ timae, horrenda vitia praescribi , vel laudari, ut communionem uxorum, nefandam libidi¬ nem, extinctionem conceptuum , caedes in¬ fantium, et similia. De Mahumetanis idem patet ex Alcorano. Nam cap. 2. docet omnes salvari in suis le¬ gibus, si eas servent, Judaeos, Christianos, Tureas c. 5, 28, 47, 48. et aliis passim docet beatitudinem futurae vitae consistere in cibo, et potu, et uxorum multitudine, nec unquam in toto Alcorano mentio fit actionum spiri¬ tualium visionis , vel amoris Dei. Cap. 43. dicit Deum, et Angelos orare pro Mahume- CAPUT XI. to. Similia absurdissima passim leguntur in Alcorano. De Judaeis , qui post Christi adventum scripserunt, manifestum est ex libris ipso¬ rum. Nam in primis in doctrina Thalmud, quce est ipsorum verbum Dei non scriptum, in¬ veniuntur innumerabiles errores, de quibus vide Sixtum Senensem , lib. II Bibliothecae sanctae. R. Salomon, quem Judaei maximi fa¬ ciunt, in commentario capitis II Genesis in illud : Hoc nunc os ex ossibus meis (I ) ; dicit Adamum cum omnibus bestiis, et feris car- naliter congressum , nec potuisse libidinem explere quousque ad Evae amplexus perve¬ nit. Idem in cap. XXVIII. Numer. in illud : In K alendis autem offeretis holocaustum Domi¬ no (2) ; ipse legit , holocaustum Domini, et dicit praeceptum esse offerri holocaustum in die novilunii pro peccato Dei, quod commi¬ sit, cum diminuit lumen lunae. Quam fabu¬ lam narrat idem R. Salomon in caput I, Ge¬ nes. in illud :Duo luminaria magna ; Idem in caput IV Deuteron. in illud : Creavit Deus hominem (3) , dicit Adamum fuisse tam pro¬ cerum, ut capite coelum tangeret, cum esset in terra. Similia passim occurrunt in libris Judaeorum. De Haereticis antiquis idem ostendi potest. Nulla enim fere fuit haeresis , quae non ha¬ buerit manifestos errores. Gnostici inter alia frequentari debere docebant scortationes, et luxuriam omnem exerceri, tamen vitari con¬ ceptum; Et si conceptus casu sequebatur, extrahebant de utero praegnantis, et contu¬ sum in mortario , ac meile et pipere condi¬ tum devorabant; et hoc modo magnum Pas¬ cha se celebrare dicebant : Ita refert Epi- phanius haeresi 26. Carpocratiani docebant, teneri unumquem¬ que ad omnia genera scelerum perpetranda, et si cum moriebantur, non perpetraverant omnia, dicebant animas remitti ad corpora, idque toties, donec implerent scelerum men¬ suram, et hoc modo exponebant illud Evan- gelii : Aon exies inde, donec reddideris no¬ vissimum quadrantem : Ita refert Epiph. hae¬ resi 27. Montanistae sacrificium efficiebant ex san¬ guine anniculi infantis, quem minutis vulne¬ ribus aereis aciculis totum exprimebant in¬ credibili crudelitate : Testis est Augustinus, haeres. 26. Manichaei docebant, aequale peccatum es¬ 391 se praecidere folium de arbore , atque ho¬ minem interficere. Iidem asserebant partes divinae essentiae teneri captivas a principi¬ bus tenebrarum , et ex iis aliquas liberari, alias in aeternum damnandas : Augustinus haeres. 46. Donatistae , ut seipsos martyres facerent, de montibus ipsi se praecipitabant, vel aquis praefocabant, vel in ignem conjiciebant, vel mortem minabantur, et inferebant iis , qui eos occidere nollent : Testis Augustinus, ep. 30. et Theodoretus, lib. IV de haeret, fabu¬ lis. Ejus generis infinita adduci possent. Sectarii nostrii temporis docent , omnem hominem justificari sola fide speciali , qua quisque certo credit , se propter Christum coram Deo esse justum, quod cum quolibet paradoxo comparari potest. Non enim est id supra , vel praeter rationem , sed plane contra omnem rationem. Quaero enim, cum incipio credere me esse justum, vel sum jus¬ tus, vel injustus ; si justus, igitur non justi¬ ficor per fidem, qua credo, me esse justum, quia ista fides est posterior mea justitia; si injustus, ergo ista fides est falsa, ergo non est fides divina justificans, nisi dicamus, ho¬ mines justificari per mendacium. Praeterea Lutherani omnes, maxime spiri¬ tum precum, et invocationem extollunt, et tamen haec fides tollit orationem Dominicam. Nam si certe credo, me nullum habere pec¬ catum, mentior, si cum hac fide dico, dimitte nobis debita nostra. Praeterea Calvinistae Anabaptistas omnino damnant, nec censent posse eos justificari, nec salvari, nisi conver¬ tantur ab erroribus suis, et tamen sciunt Anabaptistas certo credere se esse justos, ergo coguntur dicere eos simul et justos, et non justos esse. Praeter hoc dogma commune, singuli ha¬ bent sua propria dogmata, plena manifestae absurditatis. Anabaptistae praeter alia multa habent nocturna conventicula; in quibus nuptias caninas exercent, ut colligitur ex articulis eorum, quos Joannes Gochlaeus re¬ futavit, et aperte etiam propriis sororibus junguntur. Art. 11, Anabaptistarum est : nemo debet publice praedicare ; art. 17. post sermonem fiat adhortatio, ut crescant, et multiplicentur ; art. 19. licet fratri germa¬ nam sororem in uxorem accipere. Lutherani habent quasi proprium erro¬ rem illum manifestissimum, quod infantes, (1) Gen. II, 23. — (2) Num. XXVIII, II. — (3) Gen. I, 16; Dent. IV, 32. 392 LIBER IV. dum baptizantur, utantur ratione, audiant verbum Dei, credant, diligant, quod in Sy¬ nodo Wittembergensi anno 1536. publice definierant. Quod tamen aperte repugnat veritati, ut Augustinus epist. 57 ad Darda¬ num scribit, injuriam facere humanis sensi¬ bus, qui hoc dicunt. Quomodo enim credi¬ bile est infantem, qui plorat, et reluctatur quantum potest, dum abluitur, intelligere, quid agatur? Porro Calvinistae habent tan- quam propriam sententiam illam, non modo pietati, sed etiam rationi apertissime repug¬ nantem, quod omnia absoluta necessitate eveniant, quodque Deus sit causa peccato¬ rum, a qua Lutherani pene omnes jam dis¬ cesserunt. At Ecclesia nostra Catholica nullum erro¬ rem, nullam turpitudinem, nihil contra ra¬ tionem docet, etsi multa supra rationem. Proinde sola est absolute sancta, eique soli convenit, quod in Symbolo dicimus : « Cre¬ do sanctam Ecclesiam » : Quam rem osten¬ derunt adversus Paganos, Justinus in utra¬ que Apologia, Tertullianus in Apologetic. cap. 36 et sequentibus, Arnobius lib. I, II, et III contra Gentes, Minutius Felix in Octa¬ vio, Augustinus in libris de civitate Dei. Contra Paganos autem et haereticos omnes, idem ostendit accuratissime B. Thomas in libris contra Gentes. Concludamus igitur cum S. Augustino lib. II de civit. Dei cap. 28 : « Nihil in Chris¬ tianis Ecclesiis turpe, et flagitiosum spectan¬ dum, imitandumque proponitur ; ubi veri Dei aut praecepta insinuantur, aut miracula narrantur, aut dona laudantur, aut bene¬ ficia postulantur. » Et lib. XX, cap. 7 : «Per¬ suadebatur veritas nova consuetudini, sed non contraria rationi. »