There are very many persons who, when they
hear of this liberty of faith, straightway turn it into an occasion of
licence. They think that everything is now lawful for them, and do not
choose to show themselves free men and Christians in any other way than
by their contempt and reprehension of ceremonies, of traditions, of
human laws; as if they were Christians merely because they refuse
to fast on stated days, or eat flesh when others fast, or omit the
customary prayers; scoffing at the precepts of men, but utterly passing
over all the rest that belongs to the Christian religion. On the other
hand, they are most pertinaciously resisted by those who strive after
salvation solely by their observance of and reverence for ceremonies,
as if they would be saved merely because they fast on stated days,
or abstain from flesh, or make formal prayers; talking loudly of the
precepts of the Church and of the Fathers, and not caring a straw about
those things which belong to our genuine faith. Both these parties
are plainly culpable, in that, while they neglect matters which are of
weight and necessary for salvation, they contend noisily about such as
are without weight and not necessary.
How much more rightly does the Apostle Paul teach us to walk in the
middle path, condemning either extreme and saying, "Let not him that
eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not
judge him that eateth" (Rom.
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