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M. Hardinge.
Concerninge this place of S. Augustine, it ought not to be stretched to al maters in general, that be in question,* 1.1 as though wee might not vse the Testimonies and Authorities of the Fathers againste Heretikes: but it perteinethe onely to the quaestion in that booke, De vnitate Ecclesiae, treated of, whiche is, where the Churche is. Petiliā the Donatist, and the Mainteiners of that Heresie cōtended the Churche to be onely in Aphrike, or at the furthest in Parte Donati, amonge thē onely that helde with Donatus. The same heresie went they about to proue by Scriptures. But when S. Augustine sawe howe weake theire proufes were, whiche they brought out of the Scriptures, he prouoked them, the better to ouerthrow them, to come to the trial of the Scriptures. And in deede where the Scriptures be manifeste for proufe of any matter, what nede is there of Doctours? But where the sense of the Scriptures is ob∣scure, and may be wrested by euil wittes to the maintenaūce of an Heresie, there the expositions of the Fathers by al Olde VVriters haue ben taken of necessitie, to supplie the Scriptures obscuritie, and to declare the sense of the Churche, whiche the Holy Ghost hathe prōpted. And in sutche cases S. Augustine himselfe vsethe the Testimonies of the Fathers not seldome, namely against Iulian the Pelagian: VVhere beside Scripture, touchinge Original sinne, he allegethe against the Pelagians a great number of Fa∣thers: and at length in one place speakinge of the Authoritie, reuerence, and credite he had them in, he saithe thus:* 1.2 Quod credunt, credo, &c: VVhat they beleue, I beleue: what they holde, I holde: what they teache, I teache: what they preache, I preache. From the special to the general negatiuely, the argumente holdethe not, ye knowe, if ye haue not forgotten your Logike.