The Jesuits Shifts and Evasions, Chapter 5
CHAP. V. The ſecond Euaſion.
THe ſecond Euaſion, wherewith Mr. Arnoux ſaith wee ſerue our turnes, is, that we hauehave our recourſe to conſequences, which (ſaith he) we would not doe if we had a formall place of Scripture: And that to confirme our conſequences, we make Sillogiſmes, the formes whereof proceede from Ariſtotles forge, which cannot binde mens conſciences, nor ſtrengthen faith. All this is the Ieſuite Gonters fenſe, which alwaies held his firſt trade. He knew not that a place of Scripture from whence we draw a conſequence, is neuertheleſſe formall, when the conſequence is plaine and neceſſary. If the Scripture ſaith, For there is no man which ſinneth not, 2 Chron. 6.36. Is not that a formall place to prooue that the Apoſtles ſinned, ſeeing they were men? When the Law of God ſaith, Thou ſhalt not commit adulterie, Is it not a formall place to ſhew that the Pope doth euill to permit adulterie, and yet it followeth by conſequence? And when the Goſpell commandeth eueryevery man to beleeue in Ieſus Chriſt, is not that a formall place to prooue that Philip and Anthony ought to beleeue in Ieſus Chriſt, and yet that followeth by conſequence? So when S. Paul Romans 9.19. ſaith, For who hath reſiſted his will? And when Dauid Pſal. 115.3. ſaith, But our God is in the Heauens, he hath done whatſoeuer hee pleaſed; Are not theſe formall places to prooue that God guideth all things by his prouidence? Neuertheleſſe, the Ieſuites, will not allow of ſuch proofes, and when I ſay, that God guideth all things by his prouidence, they ſay vntounto me, prooue that by the Scripture, and then if I alledge theſe places out of S. Paul, and the Pſalmes, they reiect them, becauſe they containe not the ſame words, and the ſame ſyllables, but conſequences drawne from them by reaſon.Acts 17.3. and 18.28. By this meanes they condemne S. Paul and Apollos, who by the Scriptures prooued to the Iewes, that Ieſus is that Chriſt, although that in thoſe places of the Scripture which they alledged to the Iewes, the ſame words are not therein found, but are drawne from them by neceſſary conſequence. So S. Peter, Acts 10.43. ſaith. To him giuegive all the Prophets witneſſe, that through his Name, whoſoeuer beleeueth in him, ſhall receiue remiſſion of ſinnes. Which neuertheleſſe is not found in the ſame words, but is drawne from thence by conſequence. So the Fathers in the Counſell of Nice, by the Scriptures proue, that the Son is conſubſtantiall with the father, and the firſt Counſell of Epheſus, that the Virgin Mary is foreign Deipara, Theſe words are not expreſly found there, but are drawne from them by conſequence.
Gregory de Nazianze, in his fift Oration of Diuinitie, ſaith; There are things which although they are not named in expreſſe words, yet men gather things which make and prooue them by neceſſitie.
Cardinall Iohn de Turre Cremata ſaith, A thing is contayned in the Scripture by theſe two meanes,Summa de Eccles. lib. 4. c. 8. either in expreſſe word, as in this ſentence, Chriſt was a man or obſcurely, that is, that which followeth by good and neceſſary conſequence of things formally placed on earth; as from this propoſition, Chriſt was a man, therefore it followeth that he had a reaſonable ſoule.
Peter de Alliaco, Cardinall of Cambray, ſaith, I ſay,In 1. Sentent. Queſt. 1. art. 3. that to ſpeake properly, a Theologicall diſcourſe is compoſed of propoſitions contained in the Scripture, or of thoſe that are drawne from it, &c.
Cardinall Bellarmine in his third Booke of Iuſtification, Cap. 8. ſaith, Nothing can be certaine touching the certainty of faith; if it be not immediately contained in the Word of God, or drawne from thence by euident and true conſequence. For it is not faith, if it be not grounded vponupon the authority of the Word of God, and thereof neither Catholickes nor Heretiques make any doubt. Then Mr. Arnoux, which doubteth thereof, by the iudgement of a Cardinall and a Ieſuite, is no Catholique.
Where as hee ſaith, that hee would hauehave no Sillogiſmes allowed of; there is a meanes to content him, by ſpeaking with him as with children, ſeeing hee reiecteth the naturall rules of reaſon: which are not Ariſtotles inuention, as he thinketh, Zeno Eleates and diuers others before him wrote of that matter.aDiog. Laertius in Zenone Eleate. foreign. Plaine Countrey people vſe thoſe rules, not thinking thereon, being inſenſibly thruſt into them by the force of reaſon. Whoſoeuer will hauehave no conſequences produced, aboliſheth all common ſenſe, and all vſe of reaſon, which onelyonly conſiſteth therein. The rules of Lodgique are no Articles of faith, but inſtruments to mannage all knowledge by order and certainty, and by conſequence alſo, matters of Diuinitie.