of necessity and whither he will or no form it self * Id contr Crescon-Gram l. c. 20. Now every man who is in his right senses may know certainly if he gives a convenient attention whither the propositions which one first layes down to conclude something from whither I say those propositions be in the Scripture or not For as to the consequence of things themselves it is of necessity so evidently inevitable that no body can contradict it as for example since every man is composed of soul and Body if you grant that Jesus Christ is a man t is not possible but you must confess also that he hath a Soul and Body so if you know that the Scripture puts this proposition as 't is very easie to know whither it doth or not you cannot without renouncingsense and reason deny that the conclusion is also in the Scripture So all this fear which they give us of the incertitude of conclusions drawn from Scripture by reasoning is but a vain Chimera which passion alone hath made them produce to Authorise this redicule Method by which they pretend to reduce men not to discourse and without which they know well enough t is not possible for them to defend their Faith Dial. inter Sab. Pbot. ar and Athon p. 476. For to apply to them that which one of the Fathers above named said of the Arian they know very certainly that if rejecting their Method we would once prove our belief by consequence from Scripture t is very easie to overcome them and so the defiance and fears of this danger carries them to demand of us proofs consisting in Nude and formal words Shall I repeat hear the impertinent objections which they make to us upon this subject that if we believe that which our reason concludes from the Scriptures our Faith will then begrounded upon reason as if our reason in this dispute should declare the proposition from which we draw a conclusion and not the faculty of the spirit with which we draw it certainly upon this account one might say also that our Faith is grounded upon the sense of hearing since the Apostle teacheth us that Faith comes by hearing But where is there a child that doth not see that it is grounded upon the divine word which we hear and not upon the ear with which we hear the ear is the Organ which receiveth this word but the cause which moves us to believe it is the truth which is there and not the ear CHAP. XII That the faith which we add to the truths drawn from Scripture by reasoning is grounded upon Scriptures and not upon reason Rom. 10.17 REason in like manner or to use another tearm less equivocal understanding seeth in Scripture that which is there that conceives discerns and believes it But that which makes it believe it is the Authority of the Scripture in which it hath seen it and not the action which it hath made use of to see it As when the Apostle saith that Jesus Christ is a man you conclude then that he hath a Soul the ground of your conclusion is the saying of the Apostle and not the faculty or act of your reason All that your reason hath done is that it hath found in the Apostles words that which is really so Now this is not to give us Faith but to receive it and to do that which is not onely permitted but commanded If it teacheth any thing of its own growth if it makes its inventions pass for Oracles t is but just to be condemned For usurping that which belongs to God onely but if that which reason believes and perswades others to hath been taught by the word of God if that was there before she believed it that which she hath seen there and that which she hath done to the end that others might see it there cannot be imputed as a crime to her as if she attributed to her self in doing this to be the foundation of our Faith This is all which we require for her in this place that she may have leave to open her eyes to mind and see that which God hath propounded in his word We do not pretend to the gift of revealing new secrets to humane kind nor the priviledge of making articles of Faith We only beg that they would not take from us that which nature hath given to all men the faculty of seeing that which is exposed to our eyes and to understanding that which is said plainly to us and from thence conclude that which evidently follows Rom. 3.10 11 12. Hebr. 4.15 John 3.16.18 It seemeth to us that one may very well judge though he be not altogether a prophet that the Scriptures which tells us that all men have sinned except our Lord saith also that John James and Peter have sinned and that which tells us that all those who believe in Jesus Christ shall not perrish hath also said to us that Paul and Peter presupposing that they believe shall not perish Gal. 3.10 Deut. 27.26 Exod. 20.14 and that which sayeth that cursed is he that confirmeth not all the words written in the law sayeth also to us that he who commits adultery is cursed by the law since 't is written thou shalt not commit adultery Our adversaries will pardon us if we say that to deprive us of the judgment of such consequences t is to endeavour to take from us not onely the light of the Prophesie or the Spirit of perticular revelation things to which we never pretended any thing but the sense and nature of men and to transform us into Geese CHAP. XIII That t is sufficient that one of the propositions be in Scripture to infer a conclusion of divine truth BUt they produce another difficulty upon this point let it be so say they let the consequences take place then when that is done we can receive no conclusions for divine but those which one draws from two propositions both of which are layed down in Scripture if one be not drawn from the word of God but from sense or humane reason we cannot receive that which follows from it unless it be for a humane truth that is to say doubtful and uncertain because in arguing the conclusion alwaies follows the weakest part as Logicions have observed for example if you dispute thus he who hath created the heavens and the earth is the true and eternal God worshiped heretofore by the Isrealites Now Jesus Christ hath created the heavens and the Earth he is then the true God worshiped heretofore in Israel they will make no difficulty perhaps to receive this conclusion for a Divine truth and worthy of an intire and certain belief because the two propositions from which it follows are both of them in the Scripture as we shall see hereafter But if you reason thus a Body which is in heaven is not at that time in the earth now the Body of Christ is in heaven therefore it is not
LA FOY fondée sur les Saintes Escritures FAITH Grounded upon the Holy Scriptures Against the NEW METHODISTS by JOHN DAILLE Printed in French at Paris anno 1634. And now Englished by M. M. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.18 LONDON Printed for Benj. Tooke at the sign of the Ship in S. Pauls Church-yard 1675. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER ALthough the French translation of the Holy Bible made by the Doctors of Louvain can by no means be comparable to the neatness clearness and faithfulness of that which is read among us yet to fit my self to the gust of our Adversaries I have drawn from their Translations and not from ours the most part of the places of Scripture which I make use of in this little book namely in the second and third parts to the end they might not wrangle with us about words as many of them doe and perticularly these new Methodists against whom I have composed this Treatise Onely let me inform you that in three or four passages which are nothing to our controversie I have taken the liberty to correct that in the Greek and Latine texts which these Gentlemen had too evidently turned false by in advertency as I am willing to believe and ignorance and not by malice As for example in the second part Chap. 4.3 pag. 124. I produce the first verse of the Gospel of S. John in these words the word was God and not as these Doctors have expounded it God was the word whereof the two construction which these words are capable of Deus erat verbum they chuse to follow that which is less to purpose and which besides the consusion which it brings to the contexture of the Apostles thoughts does manifestly overturn the words of the Greek text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shews that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot of necessity be the predicate but the subject of the propâ—sition as those who have any knowledge in the Laws and use of the Greek tongue know well enough So in the Epistle to Titus see how they translate the words of S. Tit. 2.13 Paul expectantes beatam spem adventum gloriae magni Dei Servatoris nostri Jesu Christi expecting say they the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ separating this God whose advent we expect from our Saviour Jesus Christ as if the Apostle should say we expect the coming of God and we expect also the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ an interpretation neither pertinent nor advantagious to the Church for first the Greek text cannot bear it which binds and ties up all these words great and our Saviour in the same bundle by means of the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle put into their heads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obliging us necessarily to take them not as names of two persons one of which is called God and the other Jesus Christ but as two different qualities attributed to one onely and the same Jesus Christ which is altogether the same with the great God and the Saviour whose advent we expect but this same interpretation is also prejudicial for it takes away from the Catholicks a clear and invincible proof of the divinity of Jesus Christ for if you follow it suppose that Jesus Christ be our Saviour which the Samotosateniens and Arrians confess yet still he is not our God and this is that which they struggle for principally No body then can blame me for leaving the Louvain version in this place to follow the Greek Text in translating this passage Part 2. Chap. 4.3 pag. 124. where I produce against the hereticks expecting the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ That which I have changed part 2. Chap. 8. 1. pag. 106. in the second chapter of the first of S. Peter is less important Love the brotherhood instead of which our adversaries Bible saith Love brotherhood leaving out the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in the Greek So in the first of S. Luke I read and therefore that which is born of thee holy shall be called the Son of God Part 2. Chap 4. Sect. 7. pag. 92. therefore the holy one that shall be born of thee as they of Louvain have translated it contrary to the Faith of the Greeks who say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Latine which saith likewise quod nascetur ex te Sanctum not qui nascetur ex te Sanctus As for the small change of words in the 2 Cor. chap. 5. verse 8. where we say we have a good will rather to be out of the body and to be with the Lord instead of that which is in the Louvain bible I have a good will better to be out of the body we have done this only to sweeten the manner of speaking avoir bonne volonte meiux estre is rough and unknown in our language and the Greek and Latine texts do no way oblige us to interpret it so These are if my memory doth not cheat me all the passages in which I have varied from the Louvain version in divers other places I bear with its faults because they do no great prejudice to the justice and truth of my cause although there are some of them which testifie in these Doctors a passion unworthy of the quality which they take of interpreting the Word of God as among others when in Pet. 1.5 3. alledged part 2. ch 8. 5. pag. 109. they read having dominion of the Clergy of the People of God instead of the plainness of the Greek and Latine having dominion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Cleris over the heritage being licensed to add the words and people of God and to hide by this means the sence which the Apostle gives in the word Clergy imployed to signifie the Christian people which is contrary to the use and pretence of those of Rome FAITH Grounded upon the Holy Scriptures Part I. CHAP. I. The Preface of the whole Work SOme years since certain Doctors started up who to render our Religion odious published that it could not be proved by the Scriptures which nevertheless according to us is the only thing capable to ground our Faith upon Their invention was found so plausible that many of our adversaries have reduced all their dialectiques to it thinking that to defeat us there needs no more but to demand some express and formal passages upon every Article of our Confession of Faith and whosoever can press that demand home he is the man that must overcome us This easie way of arguing hath increased Disputants among them and instead as at first of shunning conferences concerning Religion and not permitting any but Priests to discourse it now all sorts of people hunt after it even to the
receive us into eternal habitations where the Scripture saith that he doth a thing which is the reason for which he doth it although to speak properly and exactly he doth not do it Secondly They abuse also the words of the Lord where he saith that the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven Matt. 12.32 neither in this age nor in the other that is to say add they neither in this life nor in Purgatory But why should not we rather say that by the age to come the Lord according to the Style of the Scriptures understands the Age which shall follow after the Resurrection from the dead and that it signifieth that God will never pardon this crime to the men who are guilty of it neither now nor at the last Judgment that he will never give them absolution for it neither in this life by the voice of his Spirit in their hearts nor in the other by the mouth of his Son Or why do not we say that he means that this sin shall be grievously and irresistably punished as well in this Age with temporal pains as in the other with eternal For as remitting or pardoning a sin signifieth not to punish so the not pardoning it signifieth to punish it yea to punish it grievously and certainly In that great day the Lord will also remit the sins to the faithful but not to impenitent sinners and besides what the thing saith of its self St. Paul testifieth it expresly where he prays God to have mercy on the house of Onesiphorus in that day 2 Tim. 1.18 Acts 1.19 20. and St. Peter where he exhorts the Jews to believe to the end that their sins might be blotted out in the time of the refreshment of the Lord. Thirdly 1 Cor 3.15 The most part of the Adversaries turn to the Service of their Purgatory that which St. Paul writes in the first to the Corinthians If the work of any one be burnt he shall suffer loss but he shall be saved yet as amidst the fire or rather by the fire pretending that this fire is that of Purgatory But first this passage by the common consent of Ancients and Moderns is reckoned amongst the obscure and Allegorical and by Consequence not proper to ground an Article of Faith upon Secondly I say that nothing can force us to take it for Purgatory For to leave the Expositions of Chrysostom of St. Augustin and of many others which take it otherwise why shall we not rather understand it of the Judgment which God shall make at the last day of the Doctrine of those Preachers who having retained the foundation of the Gospel have built upon it vain Beliefs which shall be reprehended by the light of the Advent of Jesus Christ but in such manner Amos 4.11 that losing the liking and praise of their own works they themselves shall not perish their works shall perish and not their persons which shall be saved but nevertheless as plucked out of the fire that is to say very hardly Paraphrase upon the Epistles of St. Paul to the Corinth Gal. Eph. Printed by Touss du Bray An. 1632. with Priviledge and Approbation as if they escaped from a fire as a fire-brand rescued from the burning as Amos saith and in such manner that they shall hold their Souls for a prey being obliged only to the bounty and Divine mercy for not having been devoured together with their works by the heat of that consuming fire which shall trie all men as many Learned men expound it and even the Author of the French Paraphrase upon the Epistle to the Corinthians Published lately at Paris and approved by three Doctors of Sorbonne Fourthly They have also-recourse to the Old Testament and alledge that the Lord in Zechary promised Zech. 9.11 That he would draw his prisoners out of the lake in which there is no water These are say they the Spirits which suffer in Purgatory But this is to play and not to reason For what is there in the Text of the Prophet which obligeth us to take this Lake for Purgatory I leave the literal Interpretation which understands it to be the Captivity and calamity of the Jews deprived of the refreshments of the Divine word and of the exercises of their Religion If we must Allegorize why should not we rather bring this passage to the eternal redemption which the Lord Jesus hath acquired to us by his blood drawing his mystical Israel that is to say his Church from the sad and pitiful condition where it was naturally being a prisoner of the Devil a slave of sin and guilty of the wrath of God the true Lake where there is no water since in that state there is no confolation whereas the Souls which they shut up in their Purgatory notwithstanding their griefs have according to what they say Bellar. of Purgl 2. c. 4. an incredible consolation because of the certain hope of their Salvation CHAP. VII That Justification by Works is not taught in the Scriptures FIrst To the validity of the good works which the regenerate do such as they pretend as merit the remission of sins and life eternal it can no more be proved by the Scriptures than the precedent Doctrines It is true that the Lord said of the penitent sinner Luke 7.47 Many sins are forgiven her for she hath loved much But it is also clear both by the precedent similitude and by the opposition which the Lord adds in saying Ver. 41 42. that to him to whom less is forgiven loves less that he sheweth her love which she bare to him not as the meritorious cause but as the signe and argument of the Grace which he had done her So we say very often Ver. 47. the Sun is risen for it is high day to signifie that the clearness of the day is not the cause but the effect and signe of the rising of the Sun And so it is that the Jesuit Villalpandus understands this passage in his Commentaries upon Ezech. Villalp in Ezech. 19.10 where having remarked that quoniam because is taken very often in the Scripture to signifie therefore and he alledgeth this passage for an example of it Many sins are forgiven her for she hath loved much that is to say Behold why she hath loved much saith he for the Argument of the Lord drawn from the Parable of the Creditor required such an epiphonema as is evident to the Reader As to the rest that faith was the cause of the remission of the sins of this woman the Lord shews it clear enough saying to her in the two Verses following Thy faith hath saved thee go in peace and that love to God Charity to our Neighbours and good works are the effects of the Grace which God doth us in pardoning us all the Scriptures teacheth clearly and namely Saint Paul Eph. 2.10 where he saith That we are the work of God created in Jesus