Dissertation on the Most August Sacrament of the Lord's Body and Blood

...than. The text begins mid-sentence, continuing from the previous page's discussion of interpreting Holy Scripture. Furthermore, a booklet was published not so long ago by a Nuremberg theologian original: Theologo Norimberguensi; likely referring to a Lutheran scholar from Nuremberg, a major center of the Reformation., in which he attempts to prove the antiquity of his own faith through every age using the Holy Fathers The "Church Fathers" are the influential Christian teachers and writers of the early centuries of the Church. and traditions. But truly, it is so far from the truth that Saint Justin Martyr, Cyprian, Augustine, and the others he cites were his defenders; in fact, there is not one among them by whom he is not convicted of clear error, as can be seen in the "Christian Protest," chapter 4, distinction 12.

If our adversaries were to weigh the presented foundations of the Catholic faith with a balanced mind—if, for the sake of investigating the truth, they would set aside all digressions and every disordered emotion original: affectu inordinato; referring to personal biases or passions that prevent objective reasoning., and persist sincerely, calmly, and steadfastly until they reach full satisfaction—according to that saying: "Answer, I pray you, without contention" original: Respondete, obsecro, absque contentione; Job 6:19 in the Vulgate numbering., and this: "with modesty and fear, keeping a good conscience" original: cum modestia & timore conscientiam habentes bonam; 1 Peter 3:16.; then in this way, the truth will shine forth.

By the inspiration of divine grace, it will come to pass that the disagreements among those called by the name of Christian will either be removed entirely or at least gradually diminished. Then the holy universal Church original: Ecclesia universalis—as is the prayer of all good men—may flourish once more in its original state of unity, with errors overthrown and those who have strayed converted.