one glory, and yet three subsistences or three persons.' I shall conclude with that of Eugenius, Let us therefore make a rehearsal of what hath been said :-if the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father, if he sets at liberty, if he be the Lord and sanctifieth, if he createth with the Father and the Son and quickens, if he hath the same dignity with the Father and the Son, if he be every where and filleth all things, if he dwelleth in the elect, if he convinceth the world, if he judgeth, if he be good and upright, if it be said of him, Thus saith the Holy Ghost,' if he appoints prophets and sends apostles, if he prefers bishops, if he be a Comforter, if he orders all things as himself pleaseth, if he washeth and purifieth, if he kills those that tempt him, if he that blasphemes against him shall have no "forgiveness neither in this world nor in that which is to come," which is also proper to God; seeing these things are so, why should it be doubted whether he be God? Seeing the greatness of his works manifest him what he is; even that he the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.' Faciamus ergo recapitulationem dictorum nostrorum :-si de Patre procedit Spiritus Sanctus, si liberat, si Dominus est et sanctificat, si creat cum Patre et Filio et vivificat, si præstantiam habet cum Patre et Filio, si ubique est, et implet omnia, si habitat in electis, si arguit mundum, si judicat, si bonus et rectus est, si de eo clamatur Hæc dicit Spiritus Sanctus,' si prophetas constituit, si apostolos mittit, si episcopos præficit, si Consolator est, si cuncta dispensat prout vult, si abluit, et justificat, si tentatores suos interfecit, si is' qui eum blasphemaverit, non habet remissionem neque in hoc sæculo neque in futuro,' quod utique Deo proprium est: hæc cùm ita sint, cur de eo dubitatur quòd Deus sit? Cùm eum operum magnitudo quod est ipse manifestat.- Eugen. de Cathol. Fide. Bib. Max. tom. viii. F. 687. B. Vide etiam Concil. Tolet. 11. B. 2. p. 264. ARTICLE VI. Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation. HOLY SCRIPTURE CONTAINETH ALL THINGS NECESSARY TO SALVATION; SO THAT WHATSOEVER IS NOT READ THEREIN, NOR MAY BE PROVED THEREBY, IS NOT TO BE REQUIRED OF ANY MAN THAT IT SHOULD BE BELIEVED AS AN ARTICLE OF FAITH, OR BE THOUGHT REQUISITE OR NECESSARY TO SALVATION. IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE WE DO UNDERSTAND THOSE CANONICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, OF WHOSE AUTHORITY WAS NEVER ANY DOUBT IN THE CHURCH. THE eternal God having, by the word of his power, commanded the stately fabric of the world out of the womb of nothing, and having furnished the upper part of it, heaven, with understanding spirits, and the lower part of it, earth, with inanimate, vegetative, and sensitive bodies, was pleased, after all, to make one creature that might participate of both natures, a perfect microcosm or little world, made up of heaven and earth together, having both a rational spirit like to the angels above, and an earthly body like to the creatures below. This person being inferior to angels because a body as well as a spirit, and superior to all earthly creatures because a spirit as well as a body, God was pleased to set under the one and over the other, as his deputy and vicegerent to rule and govern the other creatures he had made a • Δείκνυται γὰρ ἐκ τῶν ειρημένων ὅτι ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐκ προοιμίων ἀπηρτισμένην εἶχε τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὴν κατὰ τῶν θηρίων. Αρχέτωσαν γὰρ, φησι, τῶν ἰχθύων τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ τῶν θηρίων καὶ τῶν ἱρπετῶν, τῆς γῆς. “Οτι δὲ νῦν φοβούμεθα τὰ θηρία, καὶ διδόικαμεν, καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐκπεπτώκαμιν, οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ἀντιλέγω· ̓Αλλ ̓ οὐ τοῦτο ψευδῆ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν δείκνυσι, παρὰ γὰρ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐχ οὕτω τὰ πράγματα διέκειτο, ἀλλ ̓ ἐδεδοίκει καὶ ἔτρεμε τὰ θηρία, καὶ ixixuæri rÿ dioxóry. — Chryst. in Gen. Hom. 9. tom. i. p. 53. Ed. Savil. Ad hoc facti sumus ut creaturis cæteris dominemur, sed per peccatum in primo homine lapsi sumus, et in mortis hæreditatem omnes devenimus. Aug. de Symb. ad Catechum. c. 1. tom. i. p. 1094. Ed. Frob. Quia nimi upon earth, incapable of ruling and governing of themselves. And that he might behave himself aright both towards God his Master, and the creatures his servants, he was thoroughly instructed with the whole will and pleasure of his Maker; neither had he only wisdom to know what he ought constantly to do, but also grace to do what he did so perfectly know. And though, by sinning afterwards against God, he forfeited the grace that he had received from him, and so became unable to do his will; yet was God, of his infinite wisdom, pleased still to instruct him with the knowledge of his will; that so, though he could not do what he knew, yet he might know what he ought to do. This his will God was pleased in the infancy of the world to write only upon the fleshly tables of their hearts; for then men living some hundreds, yea, almost a thousand years on earth, had opportunities and time enough to hand this the will of their God from one to another, that the children might be thoroughly instructed by their fathers, before the fathers were taken from their children: but afterwards the Most High God having appointed man a shorter abode here, it pleased him to write his will upon two tables of stone, that we might not only know his will by hearing it reported by others, but by seeing it recorded by God himself. Of these two tables, the one contained our duty towards God, the other our duties towards man; but because the knowledge as well as holiness of man was much impaired by his fall from God, [and] though he could read, [he] might not perfectly understand his duty, it pleased his sacred Deity to interpret and explain his own will by several histories of things past, and prophecies of things to come, and other holy writings as himself thought fit, all which we call the holy Scriptures; which are commonly divided into two parts, the Old and the New Testament. The Old Testament he caused long ago to be written in the Hebrew tongue, a language peculiar to his own people that he had chosen out of the rest of the world, to make rum in hoc maximè factus est homo ad imaginem Dei, in quo irrationalibus animantibus antecellit, capax videlicet rationis conditus, per quam et creata quæque in mundo rectè gubernare, et ejus qui cuncta creavit possit agnitione perfrui, in quo honore positus si non intellexerit ut benè agat, eisdem animantibus insensatis quibus prælatus est comparabitur, sicut et Psalmista testatur.-Junil. Comment. in Gen. known his will in a more especial manner to: amongst whom he was pleased for a long time to raise up prophets one after another, and to inspire them with his Holy Spirit, the better to preserve this his will amongst themselves, and to explain it unto others. But intending to withdraw this his prophetical spirit from them, presently after their return from the Babylonian captivity, he caused Ezra, who was also called, as some think, Malachi ", and other prophets and holy men assembled in a council, called by the Jews the Great Synagogue, besides other things, to number not only b This we read in the Targum itself upon the prophecy of Malachi, The burden of the - מטל פתגמא דיי על ישראל ביד מלאכי דיתקרי שמיח עזרא ספרא Word of the Lord against Israel by Malachi, who is called Ezra the scribe.' When they were returned from their Babylonish captivity, for the restoring their law and religion to its former glory and lustre, Ezra and other of the prophets and holy men met together in a general council, called by themselves the Great Assembly or Synagogue,' to consult about the matter. The names of them that met, Abarbinel gives us this account of: Catalogus virorum synagogæ magnæ sunt Haggai propheta, Zacharias propheta, Malachias propheta, Zorobabel filius Shealtiel, Mordecai Bilshan, Ezra sacerdos et scriba, Joshua filius Jozedec sacerdotis, Seraja, Realja, Mispar Bigræus, Rachun Baana, Nehemiah filius Chachilia. Hi sunt duodecim principales nominibus suis notati, qui ex Babylone Hierosolymam ascenderunt in principio templi secundi, quibus præterea sapientes alii ex principalioribus populi Israel adjuncti fuere, usque ad numerum centum et viginti virorum, qui vocati sunt viri Synagogæ Magnæ, et appellati sunt sic, quòd congregati ad ordinandas constitutiones bonas, ad rectè diri .et ad restaurandum rupturas legis * ולהחזיק את ברק התורה,,genduin populum -Abarb. in Præf. ad lib. max nm and so R. Abraham ben David in L. Kab. בית דיני של עזרא הם הנקראים אנשי כנסת הגדולה .Justus was also of this council והם-הני זכריה ומלאכי וכו והרבה חכמים עמהם תשלום מאה ועשרים זקנים האחרן מהם הוא i. e. The house of the council of שמעון הצדיק והוא היה מכלל המאה ועשרים Ezra, they were of who are called the men of the Great Council, viz. Haggai, Zacharias, Malachias, &c. and many other wise men with them, to the completing the number of an hundred and twenty elders; and last of all Simeon the Just, he was also of the number of the hundred and twenty.'— R. Mes. ben Maim. Præf. ad lib. These being all met together, determined the number of the canonical books, distinguished the Scriptures into verses, examined the several copies they had of the original, comparing them together, and declaring what words were read but not written, or written but not read, whence arose the Keri and Chetib; and they num all the books, but the verses, words, and letters also of this his will, and to leave them on record to posterity; that so, though the spirit of prophecy was taken from them, the whole will of God might be exactly and constantly preserved among them; which work the Jews, and from them Christians too, call the Masora,' whereby it is impossible that a verse, word, or title, should be altered in the Hebrew text but it would presently be discovered; and so we may be sure that that Hebrew text which we now have, is the selfsame text that Ezra and the other prophets used so long before our Saviour's time; after whose coming the great God commanded other books to be written in the Greek language, and to be annexed to the former written in Hebrew; and these are they which we term the New Testament, which, together with the Old, are called the Holy Scriptures. This holy Scripture, thus written in Hebrew and Greek, containeth nothing but the will of God, and the whole will of God; so that there is nothing necessary to be believed, &c. concerning God, nor done in obedience to God by us, but what is here revealed to us; and therefore all traditions of men not recorded in this word of God, are not necessarily bered every word, letter, and verse in every book, set down which was the middle verse or middle word, and how often each word was read, in what forms, and how often such and such words are used; and many such the like things they did. All which they called the Masora, that is tradition; משה קבל תורה מטיני ומטרה ליהשע ויהושע לזקנים וזקנים לנבאים ,because, as they say Moses accepit legem de Sinai et tradidit eam * ונבאים מטרוה לאנשי כנסת הגדולה Joshuæ, Joshua senibus, senes prophetis, prophetæ, (Haggai, Malachi, &c.) tradiderunt eam viris Synagogæ Magnæ.'-Apophtheg. Patr. c. 1. And from this were they of this council afterwards called Masorethæ.-V. Chrys. in Ep. ad Heb. Hom. 8. This the Jews themselves acknowledge, as Elias אחר המעשה אשר עשו בעלי המטרתאי אפשר שנפל או שיפול חלוץ או שנוי בשום,Levita i. e. * Post opus illud quod צר בכל טפרי המקרא ולאלחנם אמרו רזל מסורת סיג לתורה Masorethæ præstiterunt, impossibile est quòd inciderit aut incidere possit ulla varietas aut mutatio in posterum in ullis libris Scripturæ ; "nec frustrà dixerunt Rabbini nostri memoriæ benedictæ, "Masora est sepes legis." Elias Lev. Orat. 3. lib. Hammasoreth. And so Ab. Ezra: ww xn לפעולות בעלי המטורת שה סכשומרי חומות העור כו בעבודם תורה תורת יהוה וטפרי Certe enim est merces magna operibus הקרש על מתכונתם תוספת ומגדעת authorum Masoreth, qui sunt ut custodes murorum civitatis: propter eos enim permanet lex Domini et libri sancti, in sua forma, absque ulla additione vel detractione.'- Ab. Ezra. in L. 1D no'. |