passages of the Old Testament which contain in clear terms the same things which Jesus Christ ordered his Disciples to do for the surpassing the justice of the Scribes and Pharisees that they might enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Pre-judgments of Tradition made the Disciples of Jesus Christ still doubt after his Resurrection if it was he who should redeem Israel but Jesus Christ to free them out of that pernicious doubt reproaches them with their hardness of heart and slowness to believe all that the Prophets have said And to disengage them entirely from that false Tradition which ran amongst the People as Theophylact does remark in his Commentary upon the 24 Chap. of St. Luke beginning with Moses and continuing through all the Prophets he explains to them all that had been said of him in all the Scriptures as St. Luke does relate it in the last Chapter of his Gospel Christ does never refer People to Traditions for their Instruction in truths necessary to Salvation but alwayes to the Scripture If you believed Moses said he to the Jews in St. John Chap. 6. You would believe me also because it is of me he has written but if you believe not what he has written how should you believe what I tell you St. Paul says expresly in his 2 Tim. Chap. 3. That the Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Jesus Christ. And to explain this thought more amply he adds All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works This is what the Fathers of the Council of Francfort express in these terms in the Capitulary of Charles the Great lib. 2. cap. 30. Est plane Divina Scriptura Verax est fixa est casta est Caelestis Magisterii Instrumentum Aeterna praedicatio purissimo nitens eloquio est Lux mortalium dicente Propheta Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum Domine et Lumen Semitis meis Est Vivax et mori nesciens dicente Apostolo Vivus est Sermo Dei efficax penetrabilior omni gladio ancipiti pertingens usque ad divisionem animae ac Spiritus Est tenebrarum discussio Salomone testante qui ait Lucerna est mandatum legis lux vitae increpatio Disciplina de quo per Esaiam dicitur De nocte spiritus meus vigilat ad te Deus quia lux praecepta tua sunt super terram The Holy Scripture is plainly true is stable is chaste the Instrument of Celestial Power and an eternal Preaching shining throughout with a most pure eloquence is the Light of Mortals according to the saying of the Prophet Thy Word O Lord is a Lamp to my feet and a Light unto my pathes Is quick and immortal as the Apostle says The Word of God is quick and Powerful sharper then a two-edged Sword and piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul Spirit Is the dissipating dispelling of thick darkness witness Solomon who says The Commandment is a Lamp and the Law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life Es. 26. v. 9. in Edit lxx Of whom it is said by Esaiah Every night my Spirit waiteth upon thee O God because thy Precepts are a light upon the earth And as the Holy Writ possesses these advantages not by reason of the words but by reason of the truths which it contains according to the saying of St. Jerome in Cap. 1 ad Gal. Nec putemus in verbis Scripturarum esse Evangelium sed in sensu non in superficie sed in medulla non in sermonum foliis sed in radice rationis Jesus Christ and his Apostles had reason in their Citations to apply themselves more to the real sence then to the meer words of the Holy VVrit Moreover to instruct us That all that has passed under the Law of Nature and of Moses was the figure and shadow of what was to pass under the Gospel Jesus Christ and his Apostles give us very often the allegorical sence of the passages which they Cite out of the Old Testament The second reason of Father Simon which he calls a very evident proof to show that the Scripture is not sufficient to decide Controversies in matter of Religion is taken from that the Socinions do agree with the Protestants that the only and true Principle of Religion is the Holy Writ and that nevertheless they draw from thence very different Conclusions If Father Simon said the Socinians and Protestants differ in the Conclusions which they draw from the Scriptures therefore one or other of 'em is in the errour because they do not understand the Scriptures aright the argumentation would be pure But I do not see by what Logick he draws this inference that the Scripture is not sufficient to decide Controversies Since it is manifest that the Socinians govern themselves by prejudgments in the explication of the Scripture as Father Simon speaks in his Critical History of the Old Testament Book 3 chap. 16. Therefore if the Socinians draw quite contrary Conclusions to what the Protestants do from the same Scriptures it is not the obscurity of the Scripture that is the cause thereof but the prejudgments of the Socinians which make 'em abuse the Scripture to favour the Systeme of Religion which they have invented independantly of Scripture The Devil abuses the Scripture to Tempt Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ resists him by using the Scripture aright Falsas de Scripturis Diaboli sagitas veris Scripturarum frangit Clypeis says St. Jerome And this the Protestants do every day in their Controversy with the Socintans and this is what ought generally to be done in all Controversies upon matters of Religion and if the Fathers of the first Ages be Cited in these Disputes it ought only to make people sensible that those persons who studyed the Scriptures to learn therein what it is God would have us believe and do to be saved did draw the same Doctrine from thence which we do who are also Orthodox when they had no vail nor blind before their eyes which hindred them from seeing the day and the light of the Word of God in the Scriptures that is to say when they had no Systeme of Religion independant of Scriptures The Pharisees falsely concluded from that the Scripture says That a man may leave his Wife by giving her a Writing by which he declares that he puts her away that a man was allowed to put away his Wife for any cause soever but Jesus Christ convinces them of an errour not by tradition but by the Scripture as we read in the 19. chap. of St. Mathew The Saducees who rejected all traditions pretended to conclude from the Scripture that there would be no Resurrection of the Dead and Jesus Christ did not tell them that they fell
into that errour because they did not joyn tradition to the Scripture or because they rejected all tradition but he resutes them by a conclusion drawn out of Scriptures tells them You are in an errour because you do not understand the Scriptures Erratis nescientes Scripturas And indeed St. Augustine very judiciously remarks That the Hereticks are only so by their obstinately persevering to give a false sence to the Scriptures which they do not understand Omnes Haeretici Scripturas Catholicas legunt nec ob aliud sunt Haeretici nisi quod eas non recte intelligentes Lib. 7 de Gen. ad lit cap. 9. suas falsas Opiniones contra earum veritatem pervicaciter asserunt The same Holy Doctor in his 18th Treatise upon the Gospel of St. John says Non natae sunt Haereses quaedam Dogmata perversitatis illaqueantia animos in profundum precipitantia nisi cum Scripturae bonae intelliguntur non bene quod in cis non bene intelligitur etiam temere audacter asseritur Heresy and certain perverse Tenets ensnaring peoples minds and plunging them into the abyss have onely proceeded from a misunderstanding of the Scriptures and when what is not well understood in them is nevertheless rashly and audaciciously asserted Chromatius whom St. Jerome calls the most holy most learned Bishop of his time tells us upon the 15 verse of the 5. chap. of St. Mat. That the Scripture is clear but that the Jews and Hereticks endeavour to hide from us its perspicuity by their perverse interpretations Perspicuam lucem praedicationis divinae pravis interpretationibus obtegere occultare nituntur pro fide perfidiam praedicando lumen veritatis erroris tenebris obvelando From all this it may be concluded that when people dispute against the Socinians and other Hereticks to convert them the method of Jesus Christ must be followed and they must be Convicted of errour by the Scripture it self All that is not formally read in Scripture or is not drawn from thence by an evident Conclusion is subject to errour and by consequence cannot be the Rule of our belief The very Disciples of Jesus Christ were mistaken in the rumour which ran amongst them that St. John did not dye because that rumour was onely grounded upon a conclusion falsely inferred from what Jesus Christ had said to St. Peter speaking of St John If I will that he stay until I come what 's that to thee Nay the Scripture seems to show us this on purpose that we might learn that what in matter of Religion is not well grounded upon its authority is not worthy of faith Sine authoritate Scripturarum garrulitas non habet fidem saith St. Jerome All the Fathers of the first Ages teach us this truth in all the disputes they had with the Hereticks of their time For as Jansenius that learned Prelate of Ipre does observe in his Book Intituled Augustinus they so formed their sentiments by the Holy Scriptures Tom. 2. lib Broem C. 5. that they almost expressed themselves in the same form In antiquis patribus saith he eorumque disputationibus duo sunt consideranda magnopere primum quod ex principiis verbi Dei sensus suos fere verba promerent secuntium quod religiose intra terminos oppugnatae ab errore veritatis sine ulla superfluarum multo minus curiosarum frivolarum atque inutilium quaestienum intermixtione remanerent In the ancient Fathers and their disputes two things are principally to be considered First that they draw their sence and tenets nay and almost their very terms out of the Principles of the Word of God Secondly that they religiously remain within the bounds of the Truth that was combated by Errour without any intermixtion of superfluous much less of curious frivolous and impertinent questions Thus as Scripture is the onely way to decide questions of Religion panormitanus had reason to say that people ought rather to believe a Lay-man who authorizes himself by Scripture then a Pope and a whole Council when they act without its authority Magis credendum laico si scriptur as adferat quam Papae toti Concilio si absque scripturis agant St. Epiphanius who has given a Catalogue of all the Heresies which had been until his time and remarks the abuse which the Authors of those Heresies have made of the Holy Writ to establish their Errours does not attribute this to the obscurity of the Scripture but to the Hereticks not having applyed themselves to Scripture with a Spirit of Piety for it is a constant Principle says that Saint that all the saving Truths are found clearly in the Scripture by those who read them with judgment and a spirit with piety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Augustine disputing against Maximin an Arian Bishop lays down for Principle that the Authority alone of Scripture is to be insisted upon Non ego Nicaenum Concilium tibi nectu mihi Ariminenset amquam praejudicatur us profer as nec ego hujus authoritate nec tu illius detineris Scripturarum authoritatibus non quorumlibet propriis sed utrisque communibus testibus res cam re ratio cum ratione decertet I do not urge to thee the Nicene Council nor do thou to me that of Ariminum as a forejudging of the Controversie Neither do I mean the authority of the one neither art thou bound by that of the other But let matter of fact the reason of each Council be tryed by authority of the Scriptures which both are bound to admit as witnessing the Divine Truths He says in the same place that the Council of Nice insisted only upon Scriptures And indeed it would be impertinent to place the Bible in the midst of the Councils unless it were to put them in mind that their Decisions would not be worthy of faith unless they were founded upon the authority of the Scripture Which has been admirably well said by Optat Bishop of Mileve in his Book against Parmenian Quaerendi sunt judices in terris de hac re nullum poterit reperiri judicium de Caelo quaerendus est judex Sed ut quid pulsamus ad Coelum cum habeamus hic in Evangelio Testamentum Terrenus Pater cum se in Confinio senserit mortis timens ne post mortem suam rupta pace litigent fratres adhibitis testibus voluntatem suam de pectore morituro transfert in tabulas diu duraturas Et si fuerit inter fratres contentio nata non itur ad tumulum sed quaeritur Testamentum Judges must be sought in the case No judgment can be had in this matter upon earth a Judge is to be sought for from Heaven But why should we have recourse to Heaven seeing we have here its will in the Gospel An Earthly Father when he sees himself upon the brim of Death fearing least after his death the peace coming to be broken the Brethren should be at variance having called
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