The Role Of The Church Fathers In Anglicanism

Cosin, John (1594-1672)

THERE remain to us, by God's grace, many good and wholesome writings of the Holy Fathers who hold consent on the mysteries of the Faith.

These we highly esteem and respect at once, for the lofty erudition of the authors, and for the grace of the Holy Spirit, which all men allow to have been more abundantly shed upon them, and also for their piety and truth, which is testified to us, not only by paper and ink, but in many cases by their blood.

For the nearer they were to the Apostolic days, the better must they have understood the truth, and the more correctly, as we believe, have they explained it. This is especially the case where they are unanimous and consentient in matters of faith. They all bear witness to the origin and authority of the Canonical Scriptures, and many of them have written valuable commentaries upon the holy Books.

Some crushed the heresies of the day, some have written the history of the Church of God, and stir up a love of piety by the tone of their works. And for these reasons we urge our clergy and students to read them again and again; but, of course, discretion should be used in determining what treatises to read.

And further, that the whole Christian world might be sure that the religion which we encourage in England, and the faith which we profess, is none other than the true Catholic Faith, received in common by the ancient Fathers, and confirmed out of the Holy Scriptures, the following golden canon concerning Preachers has been made in our Church, and was published with our Articles of Religion in 1571.

"They are to take special care not to teach any thing ... to be religiously held or believed by the people, unless it be agreeable to the doctrine of the Old and New Testament, and what the Catholic Fathers and the Bishops of the ancient Church have actually gathered from that doctrine."

For we are so minded as to desire that nothing should be believed but what can certainly be found in the sacred Word of God, delivered to us in the Scriptures, and proved by the consent of Apostolical and Primitive Antiquity.

It is in this way that we combine Holy Scripture and tradition, making tradition always subordinate and agreeable to Scripture. When the Apostles had preached by word of mouth, they handed down the doctrine which they had thus preached to those that came after them in writing, which is naturally the surest way to preserve both doctrine and facts.

Again Apostolical men and Bishops of the ancient Church constantly inculcated what had been thus handed down to them in their conversation and sermons, and showed it forth in their lives, and thus Christianity was delivered to those that came after them unadulterated in doctrine, or rites, or morals.

But we do not regard any traditions as legitimate which have not the witness of the Apostles, or Bishops appointed by the Apostles, or their next successors; and we do not regard anything Apostolical or Catholic of which they were ignorant, and which they did not teach.

The consent of Antiquity is chiefly exhibited in the Creeds and Confessions which the ancient Church agreed to put forth in Councils, and which a later age accepted throughout the Christian world. We regard a thing as an undoubted and settled truth if it was openly, frequently, and perseveringly held and taught, not by one or two teachers only, but unanimously.

But if anything is maintained by an individual, though he were a saint, or a learned man, a bishop, confessor, or martyr, without the authority of Holy Scripture and the consent of the Church, and he has handed this down to those who came after him, without having himself received it from the Fathers, and Christ's Apostles, that must be put aside as a private opinion, unauthorized by the common, public, and Catholic or universal sentiment; but we think that no one can refuse to submit to this sentiment when it is thus universal without being guilty of great arrogance and temerity.

Religion, Discipline And Rites Of The Church Of England. Chapter V.