IV. CHAP. "Scripture, and as weel and as suffyciently as be Scripture, thilke governance or vertue were not grounded 66 yn holy Scripture. Also thus: Ther may nothyng be "fundament of a wall, or of a tre, or of an house, saf that 66 upon wych all the hool substance of the wal, of the tre, "or of the house stondeth; and ought of whiche oonly “the wal, house, or tre cometh. Wherefore be lyke skele 66 no thing is ground or fundament to ony vertue or con"clusyon, governance or trouthe, saf that upon which "alon all the governance, trouthe, or dede stondith and "ought, of which alon all the same trouthe and governance "cometh. And that deom of resoon doth so, I prove thus: "Whatevere thing deom of resoon dooth as fully and as "parfithly, as holy Scripture it dooth, holy Scripture it "doth not alone. But so it is, that whatsoevere lernyng 66 holy Scripture yeveth up ony of the seid governances, “troothis, and vertues of Godys lawe, into whos fynd66 yng, lernying, and kennyng mannys resoon may come; 66 mannys resoon may and kan yeve the same kennyng, "as experience shewet; wherefore holy Scripture is not ground to hem." 66 72. To this Bury frames his answer in Latin, which he thus introduces: "Since the late Reynold Pecokke of Chichester, snatching the direction and governance of men's 66 manners from the Scriptures, has ascribed them to the "judgment of human reason, and brought in his Repres66 sor thirteen Conclusions for the proof of this error; we, "God being our guide, and being supported by catholic << verity, shall dispute against him in an equal number of "conclusions. Against his first conclusion this our first "conclusion is determined. It belongs to holy Scripture, " and is a special office deputed to it of God, to ground "the five governances, acts, laws, verities, and divine "obediences, even those which man's reason can natu 66 rally and of itself find out and teach." This he attempts to prove thus: "It is the proper office of that science to "found every governance and act directing to the obedi"ence of God, which is sufficiently ordained of God to 66 IV. "this purpose, and has received from him a name. As CHAP. grammar grounds all the congruity, which contains the "doctrine of all congruity, and has its name from it; as 66 66 holy Scripture, which is called theology, is sufficiently "ordained for the direction of governances, and all the "actions of men, and takes its name from thence: there"fore the ground or foundation of acts, governances, or "regimens of this kind, although they may be found out "otherwise by natural reason, is the proper special of"fice of holy Scripture itself, and primarily deputed to "it. For theology is so called, because it is a speech "or discourse of God; and that in it the morals of men are sufficiently taught, is plain from hence, that in Ec"clesiastes xii. Solomon saida, The words of the wise 66 are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of "assemblies, which are given from one shepherd; my son, "require no more than these. For if they are the words "of very wise men which are given from one shepherd, "concerning whom Paul says, God, who at sundry times, "and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fa"thers by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken "unto us by his Son, we are to seek no farther. There"fore these words of the wise, given by the pastor himself, ❝are ordered sufficiently for the direction of men; or be❝ing ordained for the direction of men are sufficient." To the Bishop's argument from the nature of a foundation, Bury answers, that "the minor is false; for. that holy 66 Scripture of itself sufficiently shews the nature of every "governance, verity, and virtue, directing men unto God." As to the Bishop's example of a house, that is founded here, because "it cannot be founded elsewhere, &c." Bury answers, 1. That it is incongruously chosen, and 2. That it is frivolously and vainly applied; since we are to discourse much otherwise, or very differently of houses and of the ■ Verba sapientum sicut stimuli, et quasi clavi in altum defixi, quæ per ma- Monitus gistrorum concilium data sunt a pastore uno, his amplius, fili mi, ne requiras, esto, ¿. e. ab Ecclesiast. xx. aliis cave. IV. CHAP. foundation of sciences. The foundation of sciences is a foundation of reason, but a foundation of a thing or place is another thing. One corporeal thing can no wise be founded in diverse places; but a thing of consideration and reason has a respect to one and another foundation, as often as it admits an alteration about the different modes of science. This, says he, is evident, if we consider the bounds of natural science, and of astrology, or astronomy. Astronomy measures the course of the stars very accurately, which navigation measures more rudely and ignobly; and yet the motion, face, and aspect of the stars have reference to both. As navigation and astronomy treat of the motions of the stars, so the holy Scripture and human moral philosophy treat of humility and the other virtues. He further observes, that the Bishop describes reason to be that very thing which the law of nature is. And that so reason does not mean that force or power which is opposed to irrational; but is the law of nature itself, or an inclination towards natural good, consequent on the formation of man. That reason in this sense has a twofold meaning. For the law itself of human nature is properly the inclination itself of the same nature derived from the eternal law, according to whose likeness the first man was created, or according to which men are renewed by repentance. And this law of nature, or natural reason, is in those only who love and fear God. For Psal. xlviii. of every vicious man the Psalmist says, Man, when he is the Vulgate. in honour, does not understand; but is compared to foolish beasts, and made like them. And Ecclesiast. xii. Fear Hoc est om- God, and keep his commandments; this is every man, i. e. for this was every man first created. Otherwise the law of nature, or natural reason, is wont to be called the inclination itself of human nature towards what is good, generally consequent to the nature of man after it became obnoxious to sin. Reason, according to the first mode, is always concomitant to that moral philosophy which the Scriptures revealed by God's command: according to according to nis homo. IV. the second, produces a sort of moral philosophy, which CHAP. is weakly founded on ignorance itself or nature; whereas the other philosophy has an invariable certainty from its foundation in the holy Scripture revealed by God. To shew further how vain the application is of an example of the foundation of an house in one place, to the foundation of moral governances in reason only, he observes, that this may be manifested from these three considerations. 1. That the similitude or comparison of the foundation of houses and sciences is not general, nor does the adversary conclude any thing by that example; only he endeavours to deceive simple and illiterate men, who do not know the difference betwixt the foundation of sciences and the foundation of houses. 2. That by a special prerogative it is granted to holy Scripture, that as the spiritual man judges all things, and is judged of nobody; so also does it examine the causes and principles of all morals revealed by God, which are to be found out without human industry. 3. Because holy Scripture can operate on that which is more, as on the foundation of infused virtues; and therefore can operate also on what is less, namely, on the foundation of acquired ones. To explain this, he produces the following example. b He supposes, that a piece of a place and a whole place Locus parare not two places. For example: The city of Damascus, and its street called Strait, are certainly not two places; and therefore the house therein, in which Paul dwelt, was so founded in the street, that since the street was in the city, of necessary consequence was the said house founded in the city of Damascus. I suppose moreover, says he, that holy Scripture contains a threefold law, to wit, of nature, the synagogue, and of the Church. The law of nature it contains from its beginning to Exodus, the law of the synagogue it contains from Exodus to the Gospel, b Suppono, quod locus partialis et locus totalis non sunt duo loca. Exemplum. Civitas Damascenorum, et vicus ejus qui vocatur rectus omnino sunt duo loca. So my transcript of the MS. is; but I suppose it should be non omnino sunt duo loca, &c. tialis, et lo cus totalis. IV. CHAP. and the law of the Church contains the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles. These things being supposed, it may be thus argued: As a house built in a street is to the street and the city, so are traditions and moral doctrines, which are founded in the law of nature, to the same law of nature and to the holy Scripture, to which the said law of nature is the chief part; but a house founded in the street of a city is likewise founded in the city itself; therefore traditions and moral doctrines founded in the law of nature are also founded in holy Scripture: which we grant, understanding that to be founded in some part of a thing which has a foundation in the whole. 74. This I suppose sufficient to give the reader a taste of the manner of Bury's answering the Bishop's book. As to the remainder of this first part of it, it is employed in maintaining the twelve remaining Conclusions in opposition to the Bishop, viz. II. Although holy Scripture founds moral governances, yet humano more natural reason can or may recite them. III. It is the proper and special office of the holy Scripture to render the moral of those who travel on the stage of this world deiform. IV. It is not the office of the moral law of nature to ground any article of faith; and that the law of nature and moral philosophy are not the same. V. Notwithstanding, articles of faith may be recited in the law of nature and moral philosophy. VI. It is the office of catholic philosophy to express the truths founded in the law of nature, and certain truths of faith. VII. No part of the divine law of Scripture wants a foundation. VIII. A man may know the whole law of God, although he be ignorant of acquired moral philosophy. IX. A man may understand the holy Scripture, where it treats of moral virtues, so far forth as he is ignorant of acquired philosophy. X. A man may serve God without acquired moral philosophy. |