Apostolus quia in Apostolo ipse loquitur Christus This Controversy requires a Judge therefore let Christ judge and say of what Advantage his Death hath been and let the Apostle judge with him because Christ himself speaks in the Apostle In his Book of Grace and free will Chap. 13. Sedeat inter nos judex Apostolus Joannes Let the Apostle John judge between us And in the 2d Book against Cresconius Chap. 32. Litter as Cypriani non ut Canonicas habeo sed eas ex Canonicis considero quod in eis divinarum Scripturarum autoritati congruit cum laude ejus accipio quod autem non congruit cum pace ejus respuo I do not allow of the Letters of Cyprian as Canonical but I judge of them by the canonical Scriptures and what in them is congruous to the Authority of the Holy Scriptures I receive with due praise to him but what is incongruous I Reject with his leave In short this Abridgement was unknown to the Councils seeing they placed the Scriptures in the midst of them to serve for a Rule to their Decisions which would have been to no purpose if there had been in all times in the Church an Abridgement of Religion independant of the Scriptures Father Simons saying That the Apostles preached the Gospel before they wrote it and that in the time of St. Irenaeus there were still several Churches who believed in the Gospel by Tradition without having seen it in Writing serves little to Authorize his pretended Abridgement for certain it is that when we say that the Scriptures contain clearly all that is necessary to Salvation we do not oppose the Truths couched upon Paper in the Scripture against the same truths uttered by the tongue of the Preachers we know that the Prophets and Apostles ought to have been believed when they preached the Truths which the Holy Ghost inspired into them as well as when they reduced 'em into Writing But we only say that the Apostles and Prophets have reduced the same truths which they Preached into Writing after such a manner that for the Regulating of our Faith we only need to have recourse to their Writing This is what St. Irenaeus says in his third Book against Heresies Chap. 1. Non enim per alios dispositionem salutis nostrae cognovimus quam per eos per quos evangelium pervenit ad nos quod quidem tunc praeconiaverunt postea vero per Dei voluntatem in Scripturis nobis tradiderunt fundamentum columnam fidei nostrae futurum We know not by others the Disposition of our Salvation than by those from whom the Gospel came to us which indeed they then Preached But afterwards by the will of God they delivered to us in Scriptures to be the Foundation and Pillar of our Faith If Father Simon asks us what assurance we can have that the saving truths were not altered in the Holy Writ we can answer him that the Tradition or Preaching of the Gospel in all Ages was the instrument which God made use of to make known to us that the Scripture is the Word of God and that it was never altered after such a manner but that it still contains very clearly what we ought to believe and what we ought to do to be saved Fides ex audi tu Rom. 10.17 But that it is God who hath perswaded us inwardly of the Truth of this Preaching and this answer is very true since that the Faith is a gift from God and very conformable to what St. Augustine sayes speaking to God in the 5. chap. of his 6th Book of his Confessions Persuasisti mihi non qui crederent libris tuis sed qui non crederent esse culpandos Nec audiendos esse si qui forte dicerent Vnde scis illos unius veri veracissimi Dei Spiritu esse humano generi ministratos Thou hast perswaded me that those who do not believe in thy Books not those who do believe are guilty nor are they to be given Ear to if they should by chance say Whence knowest thou that they were administred to Humane Kind in the Spirit of the most true and upright God I have nothing more Sir then to make an end with beseeching you to thank God for me that he has given me by his mercy that precious gift of the faith and perswaded me to renounce the Idolatry Heterodox Traditions Superstitious Noveities of the Church of Rome to embrace an Orthodox Communion which professes to love the Brotherhood fear God and honour the King and to Rule her Morels as well as her worship and Faith onely by the Scripture divinely inspired non taliter fecit omni Nationi and to desire the same God to continue to me his Grace and Protection whom I heartily pray that he would more and more shed abroad his Blessings over your worthy Person and over the Lady Katherine Viscountess Ranelaugh Your most Accomplished Godly Charitable and Bountiful Sister and over all your Noble Family I am Sir Your Honours most Humble and most Obedient Servant C. M. Du Veil
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