Truth and Falsehood, Book · Chapter 2
That this VVorde is ſufficient. CHAP. 2
THE PROTESTANTS
This word is ſufficient.NOw this written word of God, becauſe it is ſent vsus frō that moſt gratious God that hath loued vsus, and choſen vsus in Chriſt before the foundations of the world were laide,Eph. 1.4 that we might be holy & with out blame before him: and is brought vntounto vsus by that moſt excellent Prophet, In whom are hidden all the treaſures of wiſedome and knowledge: Coloſſ. 2.3and therefore can teach vsus,Heb. 3.2 who alſo is faithful, and therefore wil deale truely with vsus, yea, who ſo heartily loueth vsus that hee died for vsus, and therefore doubtleſſe will be careful to teach vsus what behooueth vsus to knowe: Seeing alſo the Apoſtle ſaint Paul doeth teſtifie, that he kept nothing backe that was profitable, Acts 20.2027but ſhewed them all the councell of God: We therefore beleeue (the Scriptures) to be written Ioh. 20.31that wee might beleeue, and beleeuing might hauehave eternall life. 2. Tim. 3.16,And that the whole ſcripture giuen by inſpiration of God is profitable to teach, to improoue, to correct, and to inſtruct in righteouſneſſe, 17That the man of God may be abſolute, being made perfect vntounto all good workes, that is, that the Scripture is ſo ſufficient and perfect, that it hath no want, it needeth no ſupply, nothing muſt be added.
THE PAPISTS
BVT the Church of Rome knowing that Tertullian wrote truely,De reſurrect. carnis. That Heretikes, if they be made to proue that they ſay by the Scriptures, can not ſtand: do find fault that they ſhould be ſo ſtraitly limited and tethered that they may beleeue or receiue nothing but that is in the ſcripture.Andrad. Orthod. explic. lib. 2 And therfore they neither ſhame nor fear to charge the word written with inſufficiencie.Bellarm. li. 4 cap. 4 Gods word not ſufficient. For ſo doeth Bellarmine in flat terms. And therfore he, Melchior Canus, & the Cenſure of Collen, & the rest of them, doe out of this principle gather an vnanſwerable argument, as they imagin for traditions, becauſe (ſay they) the Scripture ſp… aketh not of many things neceſſary to bee beleeued. Are not theſe ſuch workmen as the Apoſtle willeth vsus to take heede of,Phil. 3.2 Beware of euill workemen, yes verily, for they are deceitfull workemen, 2. Cor. 11.13if you marke them wel. For wheras they ſhoulde trie their worke by the line and the ſquare, they contrariwiſe trie their rule by their worke. And whereas they ſhould reiect all doctrines that are not agreeable to the word of God, they make that to bee GODS worde that will alowe of their doctrine: ſo that traditions muſt needs be Gods word, becauſe they maintaine that which the Scripture aloweth not of.
The argument for traditions, and againſt the ſufficiencie of the Scriptures.
Many things there are neceſſary to be beleeued, that are not expreſly ſet downe in the Scriptures: yea, many things that are neither plainely neither obſcurely in the Scriptures (ſay all the Papiſts) namely, Canus in his ſecond and third grounds:Lib. 3. cap. 3 Therefore the Scriptures are not ſufficient.
For anſwere: the antecedent or firſt part of the argument is vntrue: For whatſoeuer is to be beleeued, is either plainly ſet downe, or neceſſarily to be gathered out of the Scriptures, otherwiſe our Sauiour Chriſt ſhould not ſeeme to hauehave plainely dealt with the Iewes, when hee biddeth them Search the Scriptures (making no mention of any traditions) and addeth his reaſon,Iohn 5.39 They (the ſcriptures) beare witneſſe of mee, but this is manifeſt by the places before alleaged.Contra lit. P… il. lib. 3. cap. 6 Wherefore S. Auguſtine doth account him accurſed, yea he ſo pronounceth him, that will teach any thing either of Chriſt, or of his Church, or anie thing elſe that appertaineth either to faith, or to our life, beſides that which we hauehave receiued in the Scriptures of the lawe and the Goſpel. Marke how he ſaith: the Scripture ſerueth vsus for all turnes. Therfore the Authour of the vnperfect work vponupon Mathew, euen in the beginning,Hom. 1 compareth the Scripture to a Store-houſe of ſome rich man, wherein one may find whatſoeuer he wanteth: ſo ſaith he, in this booke, eueryevery ſoule may finde that which is neceſſarie. And Athanaſius alluding to the place of S. Paule 2.Contra gentes. Tim. 3.16. ſaith, The holy ſcriptures giuen by inſpiration, are ſufficient to teach vsus all trueth. It is therefore far better that we with Tertullian ſhould adore the fulnes of the Scriptures, Cont. Hermogenem. Lib. 3. cap. …than be partakers with thoſe heretikes of whom Irene complaineth, who when by the Scriptures they were conuinced, accuſed the Scriptures themſelues, as if ſomething were amiſſe in them, and that they are not of authoritie ſufficient, they are diuerſe, and the trueth can not in them be found of them that knowe not the traditions, for they were deliuered, not by writing, but by word: which are the very words of the church of Rome. So that a man can not ſo aptly paint out our popiſh heretikes, as if he take his patterne by thoſe ancient heretikes: For not one Ape is liker to an other, than they are.