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A64788 A letter to the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq., defending the divine authority of the Holy Scripture and that it alone is the rule of faith in answer to Father Simon's Critical history of the Old Testament / written by C.M. Du Veil. Veil, Charles-Marie de, 1630-1685. 1683 (1683) Wing V176; ESTC R6969 10,928 20

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A LETTER To the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq DEFENDING The DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE And that it alone is the RULE of FAITH IN ANSWER TO Father Simon 's Critical History OF THE Old Testament Written by C. M. Du Veil D D. Sufficit Christiano ad confutandum errorem quemlibet dicere Scriptura non habet Lutherus The Fathers in their Homilies did use constantly to declare to the People what they were to believe and what they were to practise out of the Scripture Dean Tillotson's Rule of Faith P. 1. Sect. 3. LONDON Printed for Thomas Malthus at the Sun in the Poultrey 1683. A LETTER To the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq To prove that the Scripture alone is the Rule of Faith c. Honourable Sir A Book indeed full of Learning Printed at Paris without a Title-Sheet came lately to my hands intituled The Critical History of the Old Testament Whereof Father Simon Priest of the Oratory of Paris is thought to be the Author He pretends to prove in that Work that nothing for certain can be asserted in Religion unless Tradition be joyned with the Scripture for the Decision of Questions of Faith There is without doubt Ignorance says that Author in his Preface or Prepossession in the Minds of the Protestants Who pretend that the Scripture is clear of it self Nevertheless Sir nothing is more certain in all that can be called Tradition than this Principle of the Protestants St. Chrysostom in his third Homily of Lazarus observes after Origen this difference between the Philosophers and the Authors of the Scripture that the Philosophers are obscure whereas the Apostles and Prophets being the common Masters of the Universe have written after so clear a manner that every Capacity may be instructed in their Doctrine by the reading alone thereof And in the same Homily that Doctor maintains that the ignorance of the Sacred Scriptures is the source of the Corrupted Morals as well as of all the Heresies St. Augustin in the second Book of the Christian Doctrine says Chap. 9. In iis quae aperte in Scriptura posita sunt inveniuntur illa omnia quae Continent fidem moresque vivendi In those things which are plainly laid down in Scripture are found all those things which pertain to Faith and the Rules of Living This the Learned Gerson Chancellor of the University of Paris expresses in these terms Sensus Literalis Scripturae satis expressus est in iis quae sunt necessaria ad Salutem And this induced the Church of England to make this Canon with great reason in the Synod of London in 1552 and 1562. The Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation So that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby although it be some time received of the Faithful as godly and profitable for an Order and Comeliness yet no man ought to be constrained to believe it as an Article of Faith or reputed requisite to the Necessity of Salvation Father Simon does disingeniously quote the thought of St. Augustin in the 7th Chap. of the third book of his Critical History That Holy Doctor supposes sayes he that the Scripture is obscure and hard to be understood and yet he adds that for the most part what is obscure in one place is found laid plainly open in another and that what regards the belief and manners is much more clearly expressed in the Bible than all the rest Now to read the thought of St. Augustin in the Book of Father Simon that Doctor seems only to assert that commonly the Scripture is clear in what concerns the belief and manners nay and more clear than in all the rest But St. Augustine says more in the Words Cited for he says absolutely that all we ought to believe and do is found clearly in the Scripture therefore according to Father Simon There is without doubt either Ignorance or Prepossession of Mind in St. Augustin as well as in St. Chrysostom Gerson generally in all the Great Divines of Antiquity who have been perswaded with * Tom. 1. in Jerem. Origen that not any Sentiment is worthy of Faith unless it be proved by Scripture nor any interpretation of the same Scripture to be admitted without it be confirmed and supported upon Passages of the Old or New Testament for this Reason is it that in the Decree of Gratian Distinct 27. in the Chap. which begins with this word Relatum there is an express order to decide all Controversies by the Holy Writ and to explain the obscure passages which are met with therein by the Scriptures themselves ex ipsis Scripturis But this is sufficient Entertaining you Sir with the groundless Sentiment of Father Simon touching the insufficiency of the Scripture for the instructing People in Religion Now I proceed to the three proofs which he makes use of for the Establishing of his Opinion The first is taken from the great Changes which have happen'd as well in the Original Text as in the Versions of the Scripture This proof may seem to have some force upon an Atheist or a Pagan but not upon a Christian Who knows that notwithstanding the Changes that have been made in Scripture Jesus Christ The Apostles and the Fathers of the Church have always proved the Truth of their Doctrine by the Scripture As for what concerns the Fathers I shall show it amply in my answer to the third proof of Father Simon though what I have already urged might suffice In regard of Jesus Christ and his Apostles Father Simon says That they have fitted the Testimonys which they Cited out of the Old Testament to the Explications received and authorized by Tradition But this is a false fore-judging of that Father of whom with reason these Words of St. Jerome may be said Hoc de Scripturis Authoritatem non habet ideo ea facilitate Contemnitur qua probatur This has no Authority from Scriptures therefore may be rejected with the same ease it is admitted Jesus reprehends Traditions and yet father Simon would make us believe that he establishes his Doctrine by Tradition and that he only makes use of the Word of God according to the Pre-judgment of Tradition It was a Tradition amongst the Jews founded upon a passage of the Prophet Malachy misunderstood that Elias was to precede by his Preaching the coming of the Messias but the Gospel tells us that tradition did ill interpret the Prophet Malachy who did not pretend to speak of the Person of the Prophet Elias but of John the Baptist who was to forego Jesus Christ in Spiritu Virtute Eliae It is evident by the 5th Chapter of St. Matth. that the Jews explaining the Scriptures by the Pre-judgment of Tradition had very faulty Morals But Jesus Christ who came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil them rejects the false Expositions given to the Law by the Jews according to their Traditions and discovers the real sence thereof conformably to other
the witnesses transmitteth his Will from his dying breath into Deeds of long continuance And if any contention shall arise amongst the Brethren let them not go to the Tomb but seek out the Testament In short even as the Gospel does assure us that those who having Moses and the Prophets do not live conformably to their Doctrine would not be Converted by the exhortations of the Dead though they should return so those who are not instructed and perswaded of the saving truths by the Holy Scripture will never be perswaded by tradition Father Simon cannot dispute this in the least since he says himself in the 10. Chap. of the 1. Book of his Critical Hist That it often happens that men being the Keepers of Tradition do blend therein what they have invented and then it is a hard matter to distinguish the true Traditions from those which are false The third proof which I find in the Critical Hist of Father Simon to show the insufficiency of the Scripture to decide Controversies in matter of Religion is That there has been in all times in the Churches an abridgment of Religion independantly of Scripture Nay he pretends that it is upon the account of that abridgment that the Fathers have explained the Scriptures and that the Councils have decided the Controversies of their time I do not doubt but that in all ages there have Catechisms been made for the instruction of Children and the shallowest Capacities or abridgments of Religion But I deny that those abridgments were made independantly of Scripture I maintain against Father Simon that those who govern'd the Church took care to collect into an abridgment the clearest sentences of Scripture and the most necessary to instruct the faithful in the saving Truths and the Fathers and Councils had reason afterwards to decide the Controversies according to those abridgments since their taking that Course was to explain obscure passages by those which are clearer as good sence doth require All the passages which I have already Cited do manifestly prove what I urge nay and if we may believe those Authors who have treated of Ecclesiastical Offices the lessons of the Scripture which the Church of Rome still reads at this day on Easter and Whitson-eve are onely the Catechisms and instructions which were given to the Catechumenes or Novice Proselytes who were baptized on those days The most ancient abridgment of Religion which we have left of antiquity is the Symbol which is said to have been composed by the Apostles But this Abridgment is not independant of the Scripture as St Aug. says book the first of the Symbol to the Catechumenes Chap. 1. Ista verba quae audist is per divin as Scriptur as sparsa sunt sed inde collecta ad unum redacta ne tardorum hominum memoria laboraret ut omnis homo possit dicere possit tenere quod credit Those words you have heard are scattered thro the Holy Scriptures but Collected from thence and reduced in a Body that they might not be burdensome to the Memories of shallow Capacities and that every man might say and remember what he believes And Rabanus Maurus speaking of the same Symbole in the 56th Chapter of his second Book de Institutione Clericorum says In quo quidem pauca sunt Verba sed omnia continentur Sacramenta de totis enim Scripturis haec breviatim Collecta sunt ab Apostolis ut quoniam plures Credentium Litter as nesciunt vel qui sciunt prae occupatione seculi legere non possunt haec corde retinentes habeant sufficientem sibi scientiam salutarem In which indeed are contained but few Words but all the Mysteries being thus briefly collected from all the Scriptures by the Apostles that several of the Believers who know not how to read or those who do being hindred from reading by the business of the world getting these by heart might have a Knowledge sufficient to work out their Salvation The Church of England speaking of this Abridgment as well as of those which are called the Symboles of Nice and of St. Athanasius says in the Synods of London in 1552. 1562. The three Creeds Nicene Creed Athanasius's Creed that which is commouly cal'd Apostles Creed ought thro'ly to be receibed for they may be proved by most certain Warrants of Holy Scripture St. Cyprian did certainly never own any Abridgement of Religion independently of Scripture since in his Epistle to Pompeius he demands that they should show him in Scripture that Hereticks were not to be baptized again to perswade him that it is an Apostolical Tradition Si aut in Evangelio Praecipitur aut in Apostolorum epistolis aut Actibus continetur ut a quacumque haeresi venientes non baptizentur sed tantum manus illis imponantur in Poenitentiam observetur divina haec sancta Traditio If there can be shown any Precept of the Gospel or in the Epistles or Acts of the Apostles that those who are converted from what Heresy soever ought not to be baptized but only to be reconcil'd to the Church by Repentance let that Divine and Holy Tradition be observed This Abridgement was unknown to Tertullian who says in his dispute against Hermogenes Chap. 22. Adoro Scripturae plenitudinem Scriptum esse doceat Hermogenis officina si non est Scriptum timeat illud Vae adjicientibus aut detrahentibus destinatum I adore the fulness of Scripture let Hermogenes demonstrate that it is Written If it be not writen let him fear that Woe which is pronounced against those who add or lessen it The same in his Book of the Flesh of Christ Chap. 7. disputing against Apelles he has not recourse to the Pretended Abridgements of Father Simon but he tells that Heresiarque Non Recipio quod extra Scripturam de tuo infers I do not allow of what thou urgest that is not in Scripture This Abridgement was unknown to St. Augustin who in his Book of the Vnity of the Church against the Epistle of Petitian Chap. 11. says Quis quis aliud Evangelizaverit Anathema sit Whosoever preaches ought else for Gospel let him be accursed and Chap. 12. Aut legat mihi hoc in Scripturis non sit Anathema Or let him produce me this in Scriptures and he shall not be accursed And in the same Chapter Si autem non ea de sacris Scripturis legunt sed suis contentionibus persuadere conantur Credo illa quae in Scripturis sanctis leguntur non Credo ista quae ab Haereticis vanis dicuntur But if they do not read those things in the Holy Scriptures but endeavour to perswade by their Wranglings I believe those things which are read in Scriptures I do not believe those which are asserted by vain Hereticks The same Doctor in the 2d Book de Nup. Concup Chap. 33. says Ista Controversia judicem quaerit judicet ergo Christus cui rei mors ejus profuerit ipse dicat judicet cum illo