Peter Martyr Vermigli, Loci Communes (London, 1576)
Peter Martyr Vermigli; gathered by Robert Masson (1576), English by Anthonie Marten (1583)
Everything he argued, gathered by topic, so the next student would not have to hunt through the commentaries for it.
Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.
The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.
Very high. The English edition is four parts in one folio, well over a thousand pages.
High. It holds his case from Scripture and the fathers, the Oxford treatise, and his answers on God and evil.
High. Masson arranged it by topic, so the whole of Reformed doctrine can be found in one place and checked against Scripture.
Moderate. It was assembled after Vermigli’s death, and it was a standard textbook in English universities for a generation.
After Vermigli died at Zurich in 1562, Robert Masson gathered the topical treatises out of his commentaries into one book, the Loci Communes (London, 1576). Anthonie Marten translated it into English in 1583 and added his letters, including the one to the church at Lucca explaining why he fled Italy. It was one of the main textbooks of Reformed theology in England.
A book develops as it is read — the fragment becomes the work, the work becomes the corpus.
By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.
| Lv | Move | Type | Cat. | Pwr | Acc | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Random Verse | Bible | Argument | 10 | 100% | 30 |
| 8 | Chapter… | Bible | Scripture | — | — | 12 |
| 14 | Affirm | — | Status | — | — | 1 |
| 36 | Faith Only, Gathered | Soteriology | Argument | 88 | 100% | 10 |
| 38 | The Fathers Said Only | History | Argument | 86 | 100% | 10 |
| 38 | His Body in One Place | Christology | Argument | 86 | 100% | 10 |
| 50 | Speak Latin | History | Status | — | 100% | 5 |
| 54 | Darken the Truth or Teach Falsely | Ethics | Argument | 88 | 100% | 10 |
| 60 | Not the Author of Sin | Soteriology | Argument | 84 | 100% | 15 |
| 66 | All Truth Is of God | Natural Theology | Argument | 80 | 100% | 15 |
How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.
Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.
In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.
“Wherefore we say that justification consisteth of faith only… All these places (I say) most truly conclude, that we are justified by faith only: although this word, Only, be not read in the holy scriptures.”
Peter Martyr Vermigli, Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans, ch. 11 (Basel, 1558; English trans. H. B., London, 1568), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameRome said the word only is not in the Bible. Vermigli agreed, and said it does not need to be. Paul says we are justified freely, without works, by grace and not by works, and faith only is what those sentences mean.
Trent says the word only is not in Paul. Vermigli agrees and shows it does not need to be. Paul says freely, and without works, and by grace not works, and faith only is what those words mean.
“For the Lord’s body wherein he arose must needs be in one place: but his truth is dispersed, and spread abroad in all places.”
Augustine, Tractates on John 30, as quoted in Peter Martyr Vermigli, A Discourse concerning the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper (Oxford, 1549; English trans. Nicholas Udall, London, 1550), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameVermigli answered with Augustine. Christ’s risen body is a real human body, so it is in one place, at the right hand of the Father. What reaches every table is his truth and his Spirit, not his flesh spread everywhere.
Jewel gives this very saying of Augustine’s in his Apology: Christ’s Godhead is everywhere, but his body must be in one place.
“The ancient fathers abhorred not from this word Only, which our adversaries so much detest.”
Peter Martyr Vermigli, Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans, ch. 11 (Basel, 1558; English trans. H. B., London, 1568), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameTold that faith alone was a new invention, he opened the fathers. Origen, Cyprian, Basil, Hilary, Ambrose and Chrysostom all say that faith only justifies, and he quotes each of them by name.
Vermigli answers with the fathers themselves. Origen, Basil, Hilary, Ambrose and Chrysostom all wrote that faith only justifies. The consent you claim was never against faith alone.
The word only is not new. Vermigli lists the fathers who used it, from Origen in the third century to Bernard in the twelfth.
“These sermons, lectures and conferences could not endure any longer, unless I would either have darkened the truth, or have professed things which are plainly false.”
Peter Martyr Vermigli, letter to the Church of Lucca (Strasbourg, January 1543), in The Common Places (Loci Communes, London, 1576; English trans. Anthonie Marten, London, 1583), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameHis letter home to the church at Lucca, written from Strasbourg in January 1543. He fled Italy because staying meant preaching less than he believed, or preaching what he knew was false. Flight is not denial. He kept teaching the same gospel from the other side of the Alps.
Pluralism asks a Christian to go quiet about Christ being the only way. Vermigli left his home and his order in 1542 rather than darken the truth or teach what he knew was false.
“I know I am misreported, that I make God to be the author of sin; but that is not true, as it shall plainly appear.”
Peter Martyr Vermigli, part 1, ch. 17, Whether God be the Author of Sin, in The Common Places (Loci Communes, London, 1576; English trans. Anthonie Marten, London, 1583), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameAccused of making God the author of sin, he answered that God governs everything, sin included, without being its cause. The sinner is the cause of the sin. God rules over it and turns it to good ends.
“Hereby is gathered, that all truth is of God. For it springeth not of our selves… God hath grafted in our minds… that is, anticipations, and fore instructions”
Peter Martyr Vermigli, Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans, ch. 1 (Basel, 1558; English trans. H. B., London, 1568), EEBO-TCP, public domain; spelling modernised.public domain
In the gameOn Romans 1:19. Whatever is true, however a person came to it, came from God. He planted first ideas in the mind that lead it toward him. So a Christian can honour a true thing wherever he finds it.
