Ad insidiosum Lucae Osiandri scriptum

And yet he is the only one found among all, who, though he knows not those whom he does not know because of his own obscurity, yet most proudly condemns them, because, as Jerome rightly says from an ancient Proverb, Α'μαθία δῶρον, ὄνησιν δ' ὄκνου ποιεῖ Ignorance is a gift, but it produces the benefit of laziness. But the world itself is not ignorant of how excellent they were, and the honest testimonies of most illustrious men—Melanchthon, Bucer, and even Brentius himself—provide proof. Therefore, since from what I have said, the extent of this man's rashness can be sufficiently understood by you, I proceed to the examination of his doctrine and his own writing.

First, therefore, so that he—who is a German—might glory over you like another corrupter of the Galatians, he says that the doctrine of the Gospel, having been repurgated, and the legitimate worship of God came to you from the Germans, surely so that he might later pronounce that you should by no means depart from their judgment, as if they were Metropolitans. For in this same manner, the Roman Pontiffs formerly usurped the right and tyranny over the remaining Churches of God, so that from there the other Churches might have rules of mastery and doctrine, from where they had received the beginnings of honor and consecration. As if Christians should swear by the words of anyone other than Christ Himself, and should acknowledge another, rather than God Himself, acting by the power and efficacy of His Spirit in their hearts, as the true and first author of their faith. Although, if the first beginnings of the restored true religion are also looked for in Germany itself, they proceeded from the Waldensian brothers, from whose fountains even Luther himself (which he does not deny) emerged. Now the Waldensians originated from the French, who were expelled from the borders of the French kingdom by the Monks before the year 400.

Page 1.

Gelasii ep. 1. cap. 11.

Tolera. 11. cap. 3.